My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 90: Things that seem impossible become very reasonable when the subject is changed to Zhuge Liang
Zhuge Liang took advantage of the Zhuge family's historical credibility and a design idea that had no flaws for the time being, and successfully persuaded Chen Qun to invest resources to give it a try.

At this moment, it had been less than ten days since Zhuge Liang arrived in Guangling, and it was just mid-March.

The busy farming season usually lasts until the end of March, and now is not the time to conscript labor service.

Fortunately, anyone who has done a little engineering work knows that a project must first be surveyed, then designed, and then constructed. It is only the third phase of construction that requires a lot of labor.

Therefore, in the first half month, Zhuge Liang only needed a small number of assistants to help him complete the site selection and planning of the new fork of the river, the precise measurement of the altitude along the way, and the height measurement of the water surface in various sections along the Yangtze River...

Time passed quickly, and Zhuge Liang's survey and design went smoothly. Although others could not understand what he was doing, even Chen Qun could not understand it very well. But as long as Mr. Kong Ming could come up with a construction plan in due time, they would not care.

Party A never needs to understand Party B’s design process or how they reach their conclusions.

In the blink of an eye, it was the end of March. Chen Qun finally took advantage of the slack season in farming to recruit tens of thousands of people for labor service and began the construction of the canal gates and the excavation of another branch of the river heading north.

The specific construction process was inevitably bloody and tearful, but it was also for the sake of Guangling's people to have a more stable income in the future. There is no need to elaborate on the specific details. Liu Bei's camp has already tried to reduce the intensity of using civilians and is relatively willing to provide more guarantees.

According to the laws of the Han Dynasty, the common people had to perform labor service for the court for at least twenty days every year. Taking into account the time spent on the round trip journey, it was normal for the total to be one month.

In the current chaotic times, corvée labor in various places is even more severe. Generally, people have to work for free for more than one and a half months, and they are not exempt from land tax and capitation tax. Only in extreme cases such as working for two or three months will the land tax and other taxes be gradually exempted.

Liu Bei was already considered a relatively benevolent governor, but he still had to pay more than in peacetime. At most, the government provided him with meals during his service, which was considered a good compensation.

After construction started, in the first few days, Zhuge Liang still had to go to the construction site every day to point out various errors and inadequacies in construction plans.

After the first ten busy days, when all parties have started to get started, he can go back and take a look in a few days, and frequently conduct additional surveys, adjusting the construction in a timely manner if he finds accumulated errors.

There is one thing that is better about building a canal than building tunnels and bridges, and that is that you don't have to worry about "errors accumulating until the final moment of connection". If errors are found in the initial measurements after digging a few miles, the construction plan can be adjusted.

With Zhuge Liang's meticulous calculations and cautious work, he was able to resolve any minor problems he encountered smoothly.

……

In the blink of an eye, it was already mid-April, and it had been a whole month since Zhuge Liang arrived in Guangling County.

As the flood control project gradually got on track, the energy required was reduced, and Liu Bei did not dare to find other things to trouble him. He just occasionally invited Zhuge Liang to eat and relax, reminding him to take a rest, spend more time with his family, and relieve his mental tension through family happiness.

Zhuge Liang then remembered that there was another important reason why his elder brother asked him to come to Guangling this time - his stepmother Song had written a letter before, hoping to meet the other children besides Zhuge Jin.

Zhuge Liang has been here for a month, but because he was too busy before, he has not visited his uncle for a month. Now he finally thought of preparing some gifts and visiting his former uncle's house.

The next morning, he asked his third brother Zhuge Jun to carry the gifts and take his eldest sister Zhuge Zhi to visit the Song Mansion. His second sister Zhuge Lan was still detained by his eldest brother and stayed in Chaisang to help him with the accounts. Anyway, his second sister was far from marriageable age, so he would have a chance to see her in the future.

The Zhuge family has an order of seniority, and generally the second sister can only start discussing marriage after the eldest sister is married. Plus, the process requires at least one year later than the eldest sister. There is nothing that can be done about it, as it was delayed by the war.

When Zhuge Liang arrived at the Song Mansion, he was quite surprised by the scene before him. The Song family was actually living a very decent life. The front door was newly painted with vermilion lacquer and covered with brass door nails. There were also several guards and servants standing there to guard it. It did not look like a poor family supported by only one male, Song Xin.

Fortunately, the servants of the Song family also knew Zhuge Liang, so they did not let him wait, but led him in directly and rushed in to report first. After a while, Song Xin personally came down the steps in the courtyard to greet him.

Zhuge Liang stepped forward to salute, and out of habit wanted to call him uncle, but Song Xin stopped him, who just called him Aliang and told him not to be so formal.

He personally pulled Zhuge Liang and Zhuge Jun in. A young woman also came out from the side, greeted everyone, and then pulled Zhuge Zhi in.

The young woman looked no older than Zhuge Zhi, probably less than 20 years old. After the initial surprise, Zhuge's family quickly figured out that this was the new aunt.

Unexpectedly, Song Xin married and started a family just five months after he set up his own business. Zhuge Zhi asked about his background in a vague way and learned that he was from the Chen family of Huaipu, Guangling - that is, Chen Deng's family.

Chen was the granddaughter of Chen Gui and the niece of Chen Deng, but her father was Chen Gui's illegitimate son and had a low status. Song Xin originally had no foundation, and he was very proud that such a local family was willing to marry him. He also knew that he was benefiting from his nephew.

After the Zhuge family sat down, two beautiful maids from the Song family came over and served them tea. Judging from their expressions and behavior, as well as their intimacy with Song Xin, although they were not concubines, they were at least maids who shared the same room with Song Xin.

Zhuge Liang did not feel jealous, he just felt that his uncle lived a carefree life. He and his elder brother were still busy with official business every day and had no free time at all. After the Song family established themselves, they became rich and idle, which was also quite good.

Instead, Song Xin himself felt a little ashamed, and when he was chatting with his nephews, he pulled Zhuge Liang aside to explain.

It is said that these beautiful maids were sent by General Zhengnan's concubine, Madam Gan, more than half a year ago. At that time, Ziyu left Guangling to work in Xudu, and there was no one at home to take care of her. Later, the Song family established their own family, and these beautiful maids also stayed. Madam Gan said that these were all given to the Song family.

Since they were all given to him, Song Xin was not polite. He had noticed that two of them were pretty good-looking, so he couldn't help but cherish them for a few months before marrying them.

When Song Xin admitted these things, he was a little embarrassed, but his words and expressions were more of a plea for understanding. He said that he was already 22 years old, and if it weren't for the three years of war and homelessness, he should have married a long time ago. How could he hold back when he hadn't touched a woman at this age?

These words should not be said between an uncle and his nephews, but Song Xin and his two older nephews are not much different in age, and now that they have separated from their families, they are so uninhibited, just like in a boys' dormitory after the lights are turned off.

Zhuge Liang was not interested in these trivial matters. He just keenly observed that even though the Song family had become independent from the Zhuge family, Lord Xuande had never relaxed his efforts to win over the Song family and show favor to them.

Zhuge Liang frowned in worry and casually asked Song Xin a few questions about official business. Song Xin also said that the past few months were very easy. The work of the guest officer was easy to handle and he didn't need to get any money. The family property left by Ziyu and the rent and taxes of the 300 farms transferred to the Song family were enough for him to spend. Anyway, there were only two siblings and a few maids and servants in the family.

Three hundred farmstead households have a lot of farmland, and even if the imperial court conferred a title on a duxiang marquis, he would only have a fief of three hundred households.

Zhuge Liang finally breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that the Song family at least would not follow the path of greed. They would just be rich and idle, which was fine.

After dealing with Song Xin, Zhuge Liang went to the back hall to pay a visit to Song.

When Song came into the family, Zhuge Liang and Zhuge Jun were still young, six years old and three years old respectively, so their relationship with their stepmother was actually deeper than that of their eldest brother.

Zhuge Jun was particularly concerned. He was only one year old when his mother, Zhang, passed away. He had no memory of her. When Song came into the family when he was three years old, Zhuge Jun treated her like his own mother. Zhuge Liang, on the other hand, still had some vague memories of his mother.

It was also because Zhuge Jun was Song's biological mother, and women generally love their younger sons more, that Zhuge Jun was spoiled in his early years and was inferior to his older brothers in everything. In Song's eyes, treating Zhuge Jin and Zhuge Liang was more like an older sister raising a younger brother, and treating Zhuge Jun was truly raising a son.

There was no need to describe the various expressions of crying and nostalgia that had been expressed for three years. After Song's longing had been eased, everyone was seated and the table was set.

As soon as Song opened her mouth, she sighed and said, "Aliang, you can still call me mother today. I am relieved of the feeling of reuniting with you this time. In the future, you should still follow the etiquette and call me Aunt Song. After all, the Song family has established its own family."

Zhuge Liang's heart skipped a beat, but he knew that this was inevitable, so he quickly accepted the order without asking any more questions.

Seeing that he had agreed, Song continued, "In fact, after the Lantern Festival at the beginning of the year, Miss Gan from Lord Xuande's family came to my house and often stayed with me. She mentioned something, saying that her daughter was already three years old, and she wanted me to come to her house from time to time to raise her.

Or maybe she sent someone to bring her daughter here every few days so that I could teach her to recognize some words. I wanted to decline, but she said she heard from Lord Xuande that I was a rare person in the world in terms of my way of educating children, and that I could raise great sages like Ah Jin and you.

They also said that I was more talented and virtuous than Meng Mu. Now that the Song family has established itself, I have no children to teach. The Liu family is willing to pay me 100 gold coins to ask me to teach their young daughter. I was really ashamed, and finally found an excuse to shirk my responsibility.

He said that although Ajin and I had separated, there were still so many relatives from the Zhuge family whom he hadn't seen for many years, and he wanted to meet them first before accepting the Liu family's invitation to be his teacher - so he wrote a letter asking you to come to Guangling.

I also know Ajin's concerns. I don't want you brothers to be criticized before you start your career, and be said to be "their mother was first invited by Lord Xuande's concubine to teach them" before you are valued by Lord Xuande. I am dragging my feet because I want to see you two brothers make achievements first, and then I can find something to do for myself. "After listening to the Song family's good intentions, Zhuge Liang was deeply moved. He completely understood this concern.

Even though Zhuge Liang was rational, he shed tears for his stepmother's small sacrifice and said respectfully with a choked voice, "Don't worry, mother. I have made great achievements now. When I was in Yuzhang, I helped my elder brother to destroy my uncle's enemies.

This time when I arrived in Guangling, I helped Lord Xuande to use the name of Liu Yangzhou, and also helped the people of Guangling to control the flood, which would benefit the people in the long run. In the future, the history books will clearly state that I, Zhuge Liang, served the country by killing bandits, controlling floods and saving people, and it had nothing to do with the relationship between my mother and Lord Xuande’s daughter. ”

Song was not very well-informed about the outside world, and she didn't know what her son had been doing for the past month. Now, after listening to Zhuge Liang's personal report, she was relieved: "Okay, even if this is the case, I don't need these days. I will politely refuse and delay Sister Gan for a few months. When you become famous, I will agree to her request.

Alas, I have always felt guilty. I know my own abilities. Jin and you have achieved such success. What does my teaching have to do with it? You are all gifted and self-taught. I can only teach you some principles of life. How can I teach you knowledge from childhood to adulthood? If you are invited by Sister Gan, please don't mislead the children."

Zhuge Liang was still a little uneasy when he heard his mother planned to wait a few more months, so he wanted to persuade her again: "Mother, why do you have to worry about these few short months? If you wait, some things will be far away. Mother can wait until I become successful and officially serve as an official, but can she wait until Ajun also officially serves as an official? He is only thirteen years old, and he is the one you love the most since he was a child."

Zhuge Liang's original intention of saying this was to tell the Song family that waiting would be endless. Waiting for him, Zhuge Liang, to become famous might only take a few months, but waiting for Zhuge Jun to become famous would take at least five years, so it would be better to give up.

However, Song didn't take these words seriously at all:

"It doesn't matter. Just wait for you to become famous first. A-Jun doesn't need to wait. I know best what my son is capable of. A-Jun can only rely on his stepmother's connections and his brother's reputation to be rich and idle. He doesn't have the ability to achieve success on his own."

Zhuge Liang felt as if he had suffered a critical blow, and instinctively smiled bitterly: So mother never expected Ah Jun to work hard to achieve something? Only my elder brother and I need to keep working hard...

Fortunately, Zhuge Liang was not averse to hard work and quickly accepted his mother's request.

……

After meeting the Song family for the last time as their mother and uncle, Zhuge Liang finally put his worries to rest. (He could still meet them later, but he would no longer call her mother, but Aunt Song.)

He decided to do a good job of controlling the flood and make himself famous as soon as possible. Maybe after the success, the people of Guangling would build a pavilion and erect a monument for him by the canal.

At that time, the stepmother can do her own thing without worrying about others gossiping about her.

Zhuge Liang now had an extra motivation to do the job at hand well.

Of course, the new branch of the canal could not be built so quickly. It was impossible to complete it in a month and a half, even if there were tens of thousands of laborers digging it.

However, it would be faster to first dig a slightly shallower and narrower trial navigation channel and test the usability of the gate.

In addition, according to Zhuge Liang's plan, half of the mileage could have been made using the original moat of Guangling City, so actually only a dozen miles needed to be dug, which made the situation much easier.

By late April, the gates on the north-south bidirectional branch channels had been completed. Although the navigation capacity of the newly dug branch channels is not yet sufficient, it is entirely possible to wait until after the autumn harvest this year, close the corresponding gates, drain the water, and then widen and deepen them.

Even in daily life, the saved labor of boat workers could be used to widen and repair the river. After Zhuge Liang's new gate was built, the boats could sail along the current at the river mouth, and all the original boatmen could be saved. In this stage alone, Guangling and Huaiyin counties could each save 10,000 laborers.

Let the 20,000 people saved continue to dig the river, the efficiency will definitely be very high, and it can be done in a few months. Moreover, these people are not agricultural population, they don't need to farm, so hiring them will not delay the farming time.

……

On April 22, two construction sites in the east and west of Guangling City simultaneously welcomed the personal inspection and acceptance of General Liu Bei, the General of the Southern Expedition.

On each of the two forked river channels, there is a V-shaped wedged arch gate, which has been completed and can be opened and closed by pushing and pulling the bottom slide, and finally fixed with mortise and tenon joints.

Although a few days have passed since the 15th to 18th day of the lunar calendar, when the tides are the highest, the tides are still not too small.

When the tide rose that afternoon, Liu Bei personally stood on the river bank and watched. He saw that the new gate perfectly blocked the tide and ensured that the water level of the canal was always many feet higher than before.

In short, the problem of seawater flowing back into the canal and then into Sheyang Lake, causing the lake water to become salty, has been solved in principle.

Of course, it will not be that quick to control saline-alkali land. It will require repeated irrigation in the next few years and complete replacement of the water in Sheyang Lake several times.

We should always use the fresh water of Huaihe River to replenish the canal and Sheyang Lake, and not use the water of Yangtze River with tidal backflow. In this way, Sheyang Lake will be turned back into a freshwater lake in one or two years, and in about three years, the slightly saline land can be adjusted back to normal by flushing and irrigation with fresh water.

For fields with relatively serious salinization, repeated irrigation with fresh water may not be enough to clean them. In the future, we will have to find ways to apply more acidic phosphate fertilizers, such as digging guano phosphate fertilizers to fertilize the fields, in order to completely solve the problem.

But these are all things that will come later, and they will be useful at least three to five years later. Zhuge Liang also did not understand these things at all. There is only one Zhuge Jin in the world who understands these junior high and high school chemistry knowledge.

……

Anyway, when Liu Bei saw that the canal boats could flow from high to low without trackers, relying only on the water level difference, and the seawater brought by the Guangling tide was also blocked on the Yangtze River by the gate.

These two benefits of water control alone were enough to shock Liu Bei.

As for whether the saline-alkali land can be managed, how long it will take, and other long-term benefits, they are not worried at the moment because the immediate benefits are already huge enough.

If Zhuge Liang could accomplish this, then the long-term benefits he described would surely be realized! Everyone was full of confidence.

Chen Qun, who has been in charge of this project, and other Guangling civil servants were also impressed after seeing the acceptance of the first phase.

"Sir, you have done a great deed by performing such a miraculous work and protecting the local people from the harm of salt water." Chen Qun praised from the bottom of his heart.

(Note: "Infinite merit" is not a Buddhist or Taoist term, but a local term that already existed in the "Book of Han".)
Mi Zhu also echoed, "I think these two gates that block the invasion of sea tides should be called 'Zhuge Gates'. We should build a pavilion or temple at the mouth of the canal, choose a good basalt rock, and erect a monument to commemorate the merits of the Zhuge brothers that benefited the people, just like the people of Shu erected a monument to commemorate Li Bing."

Zhuge Liang quickly declined, "I don't deserve it. Actually, this idea was my brother's. I am just good at thinking and I just surveyed and designed this idea."

Mi Zhu said with a smile: "I just said to name it Zhuge Gate. The specific distribution of the credit is a matter between you brothers."

Zhuge Liang was thin-skinned and was trying to find a way to shirk the responsibility. Suddenly, he saw a messenger riding a horse galloping from the direction of Guangling City and heading straight for the gate construction site.

The messenger shouted to Liu Bei on his horse: "My lord, Sun Shao, the deputy commander of the army, has returned from Xudu, bringing with him the decree of reward for the Zhuge clan."

As soon as these words came out, the whole place suddenly burst into an uproar. The other clerks, senior craftsmen, and river diggers who were originally watching the excitement from a distance all looked at him with admiration.

"Mr. Zhuge's family are all gentlemen who benefit the people. If we promote people like them, the Han Dynasty will have hope. There are too many pedantic people in the court who do nothing but eat for a living!"

"It's God's will. I wonder if Mr. Zhuge's family can come to Guangling to serve as officials."

Zhuge Liang was naturally even more excited. He had been holding his breath for the past month and wanted to achieve success as soon as possible so that his mother would no longer have to worry about people gossiping about his first step in his career.

With a somewhat empty mind, he rode his horse and followed Liu Bei back to the city, ready to listen to the imperial decree - after the decree was read to him, it would be sent to Yuzhang to show to his uncle and elder brother.

　It's hard to split the update these two days, so I'll just update twice a day, each with 5,000 words. But the total number of words is not small, so I'll still update 10,000 words a day. I won't update tonight, just 5,000 words each in the morning and afternoon. I'm not good at breaking up the chapter, sorry.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)