Zhutian: Starting from the Space-Time Merchant

Chapter 169 River Management
The capital city, the Forbidden City.

Emperor Chongzhen, who was always frowning, rarely wore a smile.

Standing in front of the full-length mirror, he swayed left and right, examining the dragon robe he was wearing.

Only after seeing the emperor's majesty displayed in the standing mirror did he go to the imperial study with satisfaction.

During the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang, he decreed that everyone must attend court every day.

Meetings before 5 PM are a real hassle.

This ancestral rule was gradually abandoned in the years that followed.

The morning court session was changed to three times every ten days, on the 3rd, 6th, and 9th of each month.

By the Wanli era, it had become a complete decoration.

Emperor Chongzhen was diligent and greatly increased the frequency of morning court sessions, but he still couldn't hold court every day.

Most state affairs were handled by the cabinet, then forwarded to the Directorate of Ceremonial for approval, and finally presented to the emperor.

Upon arriving at the Imperial Study and sitting down, Emperor Chongzhen reached out and picked up the first memorial, which contained the good news.

'The bandits of Jiangnan fought against the Jurchens of Liaodong, and both sides suffered heavy casualties.'

Upon seeing this, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but smile.

The fact that the two major bandit groups can kill each other without the imperial court having to expend a single soldier is truly good news.

"Big companion."

Emperor Chongzhen looked at the eunuch in charge of writing and asked, "How many of these two bandits have died or been injured?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty."

Wang Chengen deliberately placed this memorial at the top, indicating that he had already done his homework.

"It is said that the two thieves fought a very fierce battle."

"Corpses lay strewn across the fields, bones piled high like mountains."

"Blood flowed like water, soaking the earth and turning it red."

"There were too many corpses, all of which were thrown into the canal, causing the canal to stop flowing!"

"When fishermen downstream cut open the fish, they found claws and toenails inside, and dared not eat them."

"The casualties on both sides must be in the hundreds of thousands, all of whom are long-time villains!"

Wang Chengen's description was so vivid that it was as if he had personally witnessed the entire battle.

In reality, these were all written by his staff.

He memorized it and then presented it to the emperor.

After all, keeping the emperor happy was the way for these chief eunuchs to survive.

Emperor Chongzhen was overjoyed; his smile stretched almost to his ears.

"It would be better if they were all dead!"

These two major bandit groups, one of which occupied Liaodong for many years, killed countless Ming soldiers, forced the Ming Dynasty to pay Liaodong military expenses every year, and supported the powerful and uncontrollable Guan-Ning military families.

The other one was even more despicable; it seized the most prosperous region of Jiangnan from the Ming Dynasty and cut off the Grand Canal.

Nowadays, the price of grain in the capital is as high as several taels of rice per dou!

This is only because the Tartars did not besiege the city when they marched south; otherwise, it would have been even more expensive.

In high spirits, Emperor Chongzhen rewarded himself with a jar of orange juice.

I casually asked, "Where did the remnants of the bandits go?"

Wang Chengen's heart tightened, but his expression remained as still as a mountain.

"They will all fall apart."

After finally finishing serving the Emperor and leaving the Imperial Study, Wang Chengen looked up at the bright sun in the sky.

He muttered to himself, "Once the fight's over, let's hurry back..."

Last time Lin Dao came, he fought and went straight back to Jiangnan.

But this time, he didn't leave.

As the various troops pursuing the Tartars gradually returned, they handed over the heads and prisoners, received their rewards, and many troops carried large amounts of supplies to various prefectures and counties in Shandong.

They purged local gentry, landlords, corrupt officials, beggars, rebuilt government offices, recruited able-bodied men to form regular army units, and distributed land and disaster relief supplies.

Natural disasters can be dealt with, provided there are no human-caused disasters.

Lin Dao drove away the man-made disasters from outside, cleared up the man-made disasters in the area, and even took the initiative to find opportunities to provide a way of life for the local people.

"Taking advantage of the Yellow River breach, the downstream water level has dropped and the river has dried up."

Upon arriving in Lindao, Linqing Prefecture, he arranged for a work team to recruit laborers from various places to "mobilize laborers to clear silt from the Yellow River channel and reinforce the river embankments."

The management of the Yellow River has been a massive undertaking that every dynasty has faced for thousands of years.

This winding, roaring dragon causes trouble from time to time, and the people along the river have suffered from it for generations.

Now it's Lindao's turn to manage this huge problem.

"They provide three meals a day."

Lin Dao's solution was to recruit a large number of river workers to carry out a major overhaul of the river channel, "providing tools and paying wages."

"Send someone to Kaifeng, Henan, to take a look."

"Check if the gap that was dug out has been plugged."

"If not, we need to arrange for a replacement as soon as possible."

"Otherwise, if the Yellow River kept flooding the plains, how many people would die?"

Neither the bandits nor the imperial court paid much attention to the Yellow River breaching its banks.

Or rather, even if they wanted to value it, they simply lacked the ability and energy.

After all, there are many things that are more important to them than protecting the Yellow River.

'Puff puff puff puff~~~'

After days of scorching sun following the heavy rain, deafening mechanical roars echoed from the dried-up riverbed.

Lin Dao, driving a super excavator, kept pushing and pulling various control levers, maneuvering the excavator bucket to dig out bucket after bucket of silt and pile it up on the embankment.

The crowds on both sides of the strait were enormous.

Many people burned incense and chanted prayers as they bowed deeply to the excavator.

Such a colossal creature being able to move on its own is already a divine object.

Not to mention that with a single scoop, it can dig out dozens of cubic meters of silt.

If this were done manually, it would take dozens of people half a day to do it!

After the initial shock and awe, the guards stepped forward and urged the laborers to get to work quickly.

These laborers, armed with various iron tools, split into teams and went down into the river to dig out the silt.

Everyone works together with a division of labor.

Some people were digging mud with shovels, and the dredged mud was shoveled into woven bags on the side.

People carrying woven bags would work in pairs, carrying the bags up the dike once they were full, and pile the silt onto the dike. Immediately, others would come over and shovel away the silt to reinforce the dike.

Tens of thousands of people, like a dense swarm of ants, worked together to clean up the river.

They also knew this was a good thing, to avoid the terrible disaster that would result from the Yellow River flooding in the future.

Moreover, the commander-in-chief not only provided food, but also paid wages.

This is really
For so many years, the people have endured countless corvée labors, but they have never encountered such a good thing.

Many people have even started discussing erecting a statue of the warlord and moving it back to the village for worship.

Of course, that wondrous behemoth should also be sculpted and properly worshipped.

People who have suffered from both natural disasters and man-made calamities cherish the hard-won days they have now.

They also held the greatest respect for Marshal Lin, who brought them a better life.

"It's just treating the symptoms, not the root cause."

Inside the excavator's cab, Lin Dao wiped his face with a towel, opened a can of Red Bull, and drank it all in one gulp.

"But if we don't even address the symptoms, how can we address the root cause?"

"We can address the root cause after we defeat Li Zicheng and enter Shaanxi."

"Encourage tree planting, prohibit logging, and switch fuel to coal."

"As for the source of building materials for the houses, brick factories and kilns will provide them."

People in the modern world know that the Yellow River floods are mainly caused by deforestation in the upper reaches, which leads to soil erosion.

Countless silt and sand were carried downstream by the river, gradually accumulating and causing the riverbed to rise, eventually becoming a suspended river above ground.

Once the dam breaks, a massive flood will engulf everything.

The root cause lies in the destruction of vegetation on the Loess Plateau.

But the people of Shaanxi also need to make a living; they need timber to build houses, for daily fuel, and so on.

We need to find alternatives for them before advocating for a ban on logging, rather than simply imposing a blanket ban.

After a busy morning, as the sun rose high in the sky, the continuous horn calls echoed along both banks of the river.

It was lunchtime.

Lin Dao got off the excavator and saw guards not far away driving away the people who were worshipping the excavator with offerings.

He waved and said, "Let them worship if they want, just don't get too close."

Even in the modern world, there are plenty of people who believe in this and that, and many go to hotels with monks.

There's no need for Lin Dao to forcibly obstruct things in another time and space.

Perhaps some people will become fascinated by giant machines and thus begin their scientific exploration.

Once on the levee, he looked up at the relentlessly blazing sun, shook his head, and instructed his guards, "You can eat now, don't wait for me."

Stepping into the tent, they set off back to the modern world.

The cool breeze from the air conditioner in the room made Lin Dao feel comfortable all over.

I texted Su Tongtong and asked her to bring takeout over for dinner.

Lin Dao went into the bathroom, washed up, and then lay down on the sofa for a nap.

The sounds from the kitchen and the aroma of food woke him up.

I got up and walked over, and saw a slender figure busy in front of the stove.

She stepped forward, hugged him, and gently sniffed his hair.

"Don't make trouble~"

Su Tongtong gently patted his hand. "I bought some ingredients to cook for you. Eat less takeout."

There's a saying online that makes a lot of sense.

When a man displays the same ambition that a woman keeps talking about, you can see just how proactive a woman can be!

As for what ambition is, it can be intuitively understood as money.

Lin Dao remained silent, only focusing on his actions.

A moment later, Su Tongtong turned off the stove.

From inside the kitchen came a soft hum, as faint as a mosquito's buzz.

"Hmm~"

When we returned to the Chongzhen era, it was already afternoon.

As soon as Lin Dao stepped out of the tent, he saw Chang Wei and a group of people fighting in the distance.

He immediately frowned.

Fighting at work? Are you trying to look down on me?

The guards quickly brought everyone over.

The leader of the group beating shouted repeatedly, "General, this guy's eaten boiled meat!"

Lin Dao didn't understand for a moment. What did "white meat" mean?
He suddenly realized.

Looking over, one could see a man with a bruised and swollen face, bloodshot eyes, and a emaciated figure that resembled a demon.

In the midst of cruel chaos and famine, the tragedy of cannibalism was commonplace.

In northern regions, it has become increasingly common to sell food by weight in recent years.

The scene of ribs laid out in front of the stall, iron hooks hanging from the thighs, and basins full of water in the lower part of the stall is enough to make one's scalp tingle.

However, these people usually don't have a good ending.

The person in front of you is him.

He sneaked into the dike construction site hoping to earn a living, but unexpectedly, he was recognized.

Everyone has an instinctive aversion to this kind of thing.

Lin Dao frowned and waved his hand, "Lock him up, lock him up until he dies."

Many people might say that there are difficulties involved.
But who the hell doesn't have their own difficulties?!
"From now on, anyone found to have eaten white meat in various places will be imprisoned until death."

"If you find someone who used to sell white meat, chop them up and feed them to the dogs without questioning them."

This was just a minor incident, and it was quickly forgotten.

In the afternoon, countless people flocked into the river to continue their busy work of dredging.

"Commander."

A guard came to the excavator and reported, "The people who went to Kaifeng have returned. They said that the breach has not only not been plugged, but has even been widened."

"That area is now a vast expanse of water."

Lin Dao breathed a sigh of relief.

"What a damn world!"

(End of this chapter)