I am Emperor Shizu of Song

Chapter 107 Serving as an official for a term, bringing benefits to the region

"Young master, be careful, the ground is slippery. Wait until I have laid out some dry grass before you come down."

One day at the end of the twelfth lunar month, a light snow was falling. At the canal wharf outside Wulin Gate in the north of Hangzhou, a fleet of cargo boats had just docked. Several maids busied themselves spreading bundles of straw on the steps by the river to prevent slipping before respectfully inviting Murong Yan ashore.

These maids were not brought from Suzhou by Murong Yan, but were locals. They were given to the new prefect Zhao Zicheng by local officials and wealthy merchants in the past month.

Having arrived in Hangzhou, Zhao Zicheng naturally needed someone to take care of his daily life and couldn't maintain the discipline he had in the military camp. His subordinates earnestly offered him maids, which he couldn't refuse. Initially, Zhao Zicheng worried that these maids might be spies planted around him.

But later, after some secret investigation, it was discovered that those merchants were quite shrewd—all the maids they sent were not the maids that the officials and wealthy merchants were used to, but rather maids of deceased masters.

The Fang La Rebellion resulted in the loss of 100,000 households in Hangzhou, with countless wealthy families killed. Some of these families, including some young girls born into wealthy households, managed to escape the massacre or survive the war by hiding in the ruins. After Fang La was defeated, these girls were found and registered again, or, due to destitution, were forced to sell themselves into slavery to wealthy families.

The maids that Zhao Zicheng's subordinates gave him all came from such backgrounds. They no longer had their original masters, and because they were young, they had never served a male master before. Their backgrounds were very clean, so there was no fear of having spies planted in them.

Zhao Zicheng knew that the Murong family was going to send someone to Hangzhou soon, so he had his maids come to greet and guide them in advance. He told everyone that he was picking up his future "brother-in-law," the young master of the Murong family, to discuss the preparations for his sister's wedding. So the maids did not know that Murong Yan was actually a woman.

Even seeing Murong Yan's slender figure, they dared not ask any questions, assuming it was simply because this young master was too handsome. Especially since it was winter, the coldest time of the year, and they were wearing very thick clothes; in summer, they would definitely not be able to hide their bodies.

"The canal here in Hangzhou is really well-maintained. There are no wooden boardwalks along the river; instead, there are steps made of bluestone that lead directly to the water, which makes it convenient to get on and off boats and to load and unload cargo."

Murong Yan stepped onto the riverbank through the straw, glanced back at the dock, and couldn't help but secretly admire how well the canal in Hangzhou was constructed.

The maidservant serving her was probably a local and knew the situation well, so she explained in a low voice, "Young master, you may not have been to Hangzhou before. The water depth here varies greatly between winter and summer, which is why the canal had to be built like this. We'll change boats at Yanqiao River in a bit. The riverbank there is even deeper. If you're interested, you can take a closer look then. Lord Zhao is currently mobilizing people to repair Yanqiao River and Maoshan River."

During the Song Dynasty, the Grand Canal ended at Wulin Gate in Hangzhou, failing to connect with the Qiantang River and thus unable to form a unified whole with the Zhejiang East Canal on the south bank of the Qiantang River.

Goods from Yuezhou (Shaoxing) and Mingzhou (Ningbo) had to be unloaded from ships and loaded onto trucks in Hangzhou before being transported to Bianjing. This involved two extra loading and unloading processes and required a large amount of dockworkers' labor.

However, there are also some navigable rivers within Hangzhou that eventually flow into the Qiantang River, such as the Maoshan River and the Yanqiao River. Su Shi repaired these two rivers more than 30 years ago when he was in Hangzhou.

This time, Zhao Zicheng's estate was located in the Longjing and Jiuxi mountainous area southwest of West Lake, stretching all the way to the Qiantang River near Fuyang. Therefore, Murong Yan needed to change boats at Yanqiao River and then enter the Qiantang River to reach Zhao Zicheng's "fiefdom," and then travel upstream. This route was much more convenient than taking the land route to cross the mountainous area south of West Lake.

Murong Yan was slightly surprised after hearing the plan relayed by the maid, but she didn't want to ask further. Her steward, Deng Yue, who had come with her, also felt the matter was somewhat illogical and asked on her behalf:

"Hangzhou has only been ravaged by war for less than two months. Lord Zhao has always been benevolent and loves his people. Why would he be in such a hurry to repair the Salt Bridge and make the people suffer so much?"

The maid seemed to have been with Zhao Zicheng for some time and knew the situation quite well, so she explained, "I don't understand these things either. I only heard the Prefect say that it's a work-for-relief program. There were too many wealthy households that were killed and plundered before, so the Prefect is distributing some of the unclaimed land to poor farmers. But it can't be distributed randomly; there has to be a method."

Those who couldn't afford to buy land were given work-for-relief programs, such as clearing ruins in the city, rebuilding houses, or doing minor repairs on the river during the winter when the water was low. No large-scale construction was undertaken.

Murong Yan immediately understood. This was very much like Brother Zhao's usual style; he loved to emulate Su Shi's approach of using work as a form of relief, having done so in Suzhou before. She figured he would be more measured in Hangzhou as well.

The stewards, maids, and servants of the Murong family traveled on more than a dozen cargo boats, then took carriages for several miles from the canal dock to the Yanqiao River dock, where they boarded the boats again.

Along the way, we could see the clerks of the government office surveying the area. After asking around, we learned that this was also ordered by Lord Zhao. They wanted to survey the water level difference and consider whether to connect the local canals that flow into the Qiantang River with the Grand Canal in the future, and to assess the difficulty of the project.

Zhao Zicheng stated that his term in Hangzhou would last at most less than six months, so there was definitely not enough time to complete such a large task. If he were transferred halfway through and his successor lacked the competence, leaving behind a half-finished mess would only make things worse.

Therefore, Zhao Zicheng was very cautious and only wanted to conduct a survey and demonstration first, leaving a technically feasible plan for future generations. In comparison, the amount of work involved in repairing the existing Yanqiao River and Maoshan River was much simpler than opening up the Grand Canal and Yanqiao River.

We can practice on some small projects first, verify and refine our construction techniques, and set an example for future generations. This also reduces the risk significantly.

"Brother Zhao is as steady and reliable as ever. He is truly a capable administrator. If Wang Anshi had followed Brother Zhao's steady and pragmatic approach back then, there would have been no chaos and turmoil throughout the land."

After witnessing Zhao Zicheng's plans for repairing the river, Murong Yan couldn't help but sigh with admiration.

After reboarding the boats on the Yanqiao River, the fleet traveled downstream for only about twenty li (approximately one or two hours) before reaching the confluence of the Yanqiao River and the Qiantang River.

There used to be a parallel double lock at the river mouth, a double-gate lock without any angle between the gates. When the fleet arrived at this point, they had to queue at the lock. The Murong family members had never been here before, and out of curiosity, they asked the maid who was leading the way.

The maid explained, "The Qiantang River has extremely high tides every day. We can only open the sluice gates when the water level in the river is about the same as that in the Yanqiao River. Otherwise, the tide will flow back in and a large area of ​​eastern Hangzhou will be flooded."

I've heard that since the ancient Wu-Yue Kingdom built the sea dike, the rest of the rivers in Hangzhou have ceased to cause trouble. Only the sluice gates at the mouths of the Maoshan River and the Yanqiao River have been repeatedly breached. When I was a child, I heard my grandparents say that decades ago, the tidal bore was even more destructive. When Scholar Su was the prefect, he rebuilt the sluice gates at these two river mouths, which improved the situation somewhat, but over the years, they have fallen into disrepair and continued to deteriorate.

Murong Yan interacted with the maids along the way and noticed that they all used idioms in their speech, which made her curious: "Judging from your conversation, you must be well-educated, sister? And you know so many historical anecdotes."

The maids quickly replied modestly, "We come from scholarly families, but our families were all killed by Fang La and sold by the county magistrate to the prefect." Several of them said the same thing, and Murong Yan couldn't help but sigh. However, the loyalty of these maids should be beyond question. Brother Zhao's victory over Fang La was avenging for their families, and these maids could be trusted and relied upon in the future.

While waiting for the sluice gate to open, Murong Yan, having nothing better to do, observed the laborers working on both banks. She saw a group of laborers stacking long stone slabs layer by layer to form two large stone gates.

Between each layer of long stone slabs, cement mortar was applied for bonding, and long steel bars were embedded in the cement mortar. Then, whole long stone slabs were laid on top, and the layers were stacked one on top of the other. After the stacking was completed, another layer of cement mortar was applied to the outside, and then wooden boards were wrapped around it to prevent it from falling off and corroding.

In contrast, the old sluice gate built by Su Shi more than 30 years ago, which is currently blocking the river, is simply constructed from large trees. Moreover, the sluice gate built by Su Shi is flat, with no arched angle between the two gates. The sluice gate built by Zhao Zicheng, however, has a distinct arched angle, making it significantly stronger in resisting the water pressure of the Qiantang River tidal bore.

Murong Yan didn't understand the technical details, but just by observing the differences in their appearances, she could tell with her naked eye that what Zhao Zicheng had repaired was much better than what Su Shi had repaired back then.

The stewards of the Murong family were full of praise after seeing it.

The fleet waited in the Yanqiao River until the afternoon, when the peak of the tidal bore finally passed, and the locks slowly opened. After the fleet entered the Qiantang River, Murong Yan soon saw a bustling construction site in front of her.

Thousands of laborers are building a framework with timber, and then throwing bamboo cages filled with earth and stones into the river to create two embankments that shield the mouth of the Yanqiao River and extend into the river.

Murong Yan was unaware that this structure would later be called a "T-shaped dam," designed to reduce the impact of the Qiantang River tide on the mouths of tributaries.

After these auxiliary facilities were built, the peak pressure of the tidal bore on the gate will not decrease, but the trend of water pressure change will become more gradual, preventing the gate from being overwhelmed by the sudden surge of the tide.

Furthermore, it can reduce the siltation caused by the collision between tides and the original river water.

Historically, the Song and Ming dynasties did not dare to directly connect the Grand Canal and the Qiantang River, not only because they were worried that the river water would backflow into the canal after the sluice gates collapsed, but also because they were afraid that the silt carried by the river tide would accelerate the silting up of the canal.

When Su Shi served as the prefect of Hangzhou, he took the lead in building "moon ponds" at the mouths of the Yanqiao River and Maoshan River. These were arc-shaped buffer embankments that blocked a considerable amount of silt and slowed down the rate at which the mouths of these two rivers were silted up. This can be considered a great act of kindness for the people of Hangzhou.

From the perspective of water management effectiveness alone, the contributions of these projects are no less than those of dredging West Lake and building the Su Causeway. However, lacking the embellishment of poems by literati, these projects are far less well-known than the Su Causeway.

Now that Zhao Zicheng has arrived, he can simply copy the answers from later generations.

He also visited Hangzhou several times in later generations and watched the Qiantang River tide. He directly copied the design and structure of the water conservancy project from later generations, upgraded the Moon Pond to a T-shaped dam, and even used cement. His construction efficiency was three to five times higher than Su Shi's.

These projects have only been underway for a month or so, and the local people working on them have already seen the brilliance of Lord Zhao's planning. At least in terms of results, even though they are not yet completed, the impact of the tides on the Yanqiao River and Maoshan River has been significantly reduced, and the rate of siltation has visibly slowed down, which will greatly reduce the amount of dredging work required each year in the future.

Especially the application of cement, which the people of Hangzhou had never even seen before. Although Zhao Zicheng had presented the formula for simple cement to the court nearly half a year earlier for the government to use in building artificial mountains and the Genyue Garden, the petty Zhao Ji did not share the formula with the world after receiving it, but only gave it to the Directorate of Works to use in the construction of the royal gardens.

The cement used in Hangzhou recently was temporarily fired in kilns and workshops built locally after Zhao Zicheng took office as the prefect. It was all locally produced and supplied directly to the river repair construction site as soon as it was produced.

After the people became somewhat familiar with how to use the materials, they all praised the materials provided by Lord Zhao, which made the construction progress several times faster and reduced the labor wasted on mining and processing stones by more than half.

Thus, rumors began to circulate among the people that "Lord Zhao's talent in domestic affairs is no less than that of Scholar Su more than 30 years ago. He is truly a man of both literary and military talents. Even if the stars of literature and martial arts were to possess him, it would still not be enough."

The Murong family members traveled incognito and personally witnessed and heard the local people and officials praising Zhao Zicheng in this way. They all felt honored and proud.

"Brother Zhao is truly remarkable. He wins over the hearts of the people in every place he visits in a short time. If he were to go to more places, the Song Dynasty might have a chance to survive," Murong Yan thought to herself.

The fleet sailed upstream along the Qiantang River for about ten miles, and by evening, they were finally approaching Zhao Zicheng's "land encirclement".

Murong Yan stood at the bow of the boat, gazing upstream countless times, until finally she saw a dense cluster of lights rising in the distance on the north bank. A small tributary branched off from the Qiantang River, and at its mouth, a bustling scene unfolded, seemingly another large construction site.

Many craftsmen were building branch canals and waterwheels on the riverbank, all sorts of strange things that Murong Yan had never seen before.

There were also several newly repaired waterwheels nearby. Murong Yan initially thought that these waterwheels were probably used to draw water for irrigation, but as the boat got closer, she could hear a constant rumbling sound coming from inside the waterwheels.

She was unaware that Zhao Zicheng was using the force and potential energy of the Qiantang River to create a waterwheel forging hammer for metallurgical forging.

Previously, Zhao Zicheng instructed Yang Zhi and Lin Chong to practice the Mandarin Duck Formation in order to deal with Fang La in a mountainous terrain. The original Qi Jiguang Mandarin Duck Formation did not require the creation of new weapons; it could be practiced using existing equipment.

However, since Zhao Zicheng would soon be transferred elsewhere and would have to deal with the Liao and Jin people in the future, he certainly couldn't rely on the traditional Mandarin Duck Formation forever. This weapon, effective in mountain and hilly warfare, would be useless against cavalry on the northern plains.

So, taking advantage of his months in Hangzhou, Zhao Zicheng decided to tinker with some new cold weapons. He wasn't aiming for any groundbreaking advancements, but simply to specifically enhance their effectiveness in anti-cavalry warfare. In recent days, he's been spending his time in his own workshop, personally providing guidance and offering suggestions for improvement.

As for things like improving gunpowder, those priorities have to be put on hold a little later. My term in Hangzhou this time was too short, and Hangzhou is too prosperous with frequent business travel, making it difficult to keep things secret. After I leave, it won't be easy to explain to my successor, and if the illegal manufacture of new gunpowder is discovered, it will cause a lot of trouble.

(End of this chapter)