Late Ming Dynasty: So what if Emperor Chongzhen was inactive?!

Chapter 321 The Yellow River is like this: if it is not managed, something bad will happen; if it is managed, something bad will still happen!

On the 17th day of the second month of the fifth year of the Chongzhen reign (1644), the Qingming Festival, Zhu Youjian invited Prince Zhou to go on a spring outing along the Yellow River dike. This section of the dike, which was built under the supervision of Yu Qian, was about 40 li in circumference, 6 zhang wide, and more than 2 zhang high. The dike surface was wide and flat, and could accommodate many people walking side by side.

A large number of willow, peach, and pear trees have been planted on both sides of the dike according to the plan. In spring, the willow branches turn green and the flowers and fruits bloom, forming a landscape of "flowers and trees forming a forest on the dike and farmland covered with green below the dike", which is a good place for spring outing during the Qingming Festival.

Zhu Youjian was uneducated, and Prince Zhou was old; they didn't have much in common. On the contrary, Zhu Xieyuan and Prince Zhou, the two old men, got along very well, as if they were old friends. If a more sensitive emperor had known the princes and ministers too closely, he would have been furious; however, Zhu Youjian was thick-skinned in this regard and didn't care much.

The Akhal-Teke horses, which were presented as tribute from the Yarkand Khanate in the Western Regions two years ago, are curiously plucking a few willow leaves from the Jiangnan region with their lips—a taste they have never experienced before. In the riverbed, the turbid Yellow River flows slowly, with a newly built pontoon bridge several hundred meters long spanning its surface.

The vanguard of the army cleared paths through mountains and built bridges over rivers. Zhu Youjian crossed the Yellow River via this pontoon bridge. For a Ming emperor, crossing a pontoon bridge was far from pleasant! While a pontoon bridge could be built over the Yellow River, to reach Nanjing, one had to cross by boat. He couldn't trust the local navy and had to summon the Dengzhou and Laizhou naval forces to serve as ferries.

At this moment, the riverbank was bathed in spring sunshine, and the Yellow River flowed calmly and gently in its bed. However, Zhu Youjian, looking at this peaceful scene, felt a chill run down his spine:
In the fifteenth year of the Chongzhen Emperor's reign, the Ming army and Li Zicheng's peasant army breached the Yellow River dike, flooding Kaifeng City. The entire city of Kaifeng, including its twelve-meter-high city walls, was directly buried by the silt of the Yellow River. Zheng Lian wrote in "A Brief Account of the Yu Rebellion" that "when Kaifeng was submerged, all one million households in the city perished." From then on, the city of Kaifeng disappeared from historical records for a full twenty years!
Standing on the riverbank and looking south, the iron tower of Kaifeng, which does not contain iron, stands out majestically among the low-rise buildings in Kaifeng.

However, Zhu Youjian sensed a hint of indifference in the rust-colored glazed tiles on the spire. It is said that when Kaifeng was flooded, only this iron tower was above the water.

Peasant uprisings are just, but the actions of the peasants in the uprisings are not necessarily just.

This is why Zhu Youjian has always maintained a cold attitude towards peasant uprising armies; this is also why Zhu Youjian, knowing that the Ming court was corrupt, knowing that the gentry of the Ming Dynasty were inhuman, and knowing that he had the power to overturn the table, still chose to deal with them.

"Better to be a dog in times of peace than a human in times of chaos." Even a flawed order is still an order, and Zhu Youjian did not want the world to descend into chaos.

Kaifeng is a city built upon a city, with five cities stacked on top of each other: from bottom to top, the city of Daliang during the Wei Dynasty, the city of Bianzhou during the Tang Dynasty, the city of Dongjing during the Northern Song Dynasty, the city of Bianjing during the Jin Dynasty, and the city of Kaifeng during the Ming Dynasty. Today, the Yellow River is three meters higher than Kaifeng, and the Yellow River dike is higher than the city walls of Kaifeng. If the dike were to breach, Kaifeng would surely be flooded!
Zhu Youjian happened to remember that the disasters in Henan began this year: in the fifth year of Chongzhen's reign, the entire province suffered a major flood, and the Yellow River breached its banks at Mengjin; in the sixth and seventh years, locusts and droughts struck; and from the eleventh to the fourteenth year, there were four consecutive years of severe drought, and the number of refugees in Henan surpassed that in Shaanxi.

It was at this time that Li Zicheng, who had been beaten so badly that he could not even recognize his own mother, made a comeback with the help of a huge number of disaster victims in Henan.

Li Zicheng may still be a courier now, and may be doing it for the rest of his life, but the natural disasters in Henan will eventually come.

Historical records state that in the summer of the fifth year of the Chongzhen reign (1644), there were sixty days and nights of continuous rain. The Mengjin estuary breached, flooding hundreds of miles across the area; the Qixian River overflowed into Qixian, with water reaching a depth of two feet on flat land! Now, with several months until summer, Zhu Youjian was wondering if there was any way to salvage the situation.

But two months of continuous rain sounds like something out of a fantasy. Even if the Mengjin estuary is repaired, other places may still be unable to withstand the surge in the Yellow River's flow and breach their banks.

Legend has it that Yu the Great, in his efforts to control the floods, believed that dredging was preferable to blocking. Thus, dredging became the primary method for managing the Yellow River throughout history. While diverting and dispersing the Yellow River's waters alleviated flooding, this also slowed the river's flow, leading to siltation and the formation of a "suspended river" above ground level. This resulted in severe siltation and frequent breaches in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, significantly impacting its navigation value.

During the Jiajing and Wanli reigns, Pan Jixun, the governor of the Yellow River, pioneered the theory of "constricting water to attack sand". He increased the flow velocity by constricting the river channel and dredged the river channel by "using the river to control the river and using water to control sand". At first, the effect was remarkable, but the side effects were also obvious: the river channel became narrower, the river channel still silted up during the dry season, and the riverbed rose faster.
Furthermore, due to the narrowing of the river channel, the Yellow River's ability to discharge floodwaters during floods has decreased. If a breach occurs at this time, it could lead to even more severe consequences. That's the nature of the Yellow River: if it's not managed, problems will arise; if managed, problems will still arise!
"Grand Secretary Zhu, can you tell me why His Majesty summoned us here?!" Prince Zhou asked Zhu Xieyuan in a low voice.

Zhu Xieyuan replied sincerely, "I don't know, perhaps His Majesty came here to relax."

This answer greatly displeased King Zhou. The emperor's expression alternated between pale and flushed; who knew what wicked thoughts were brewing inside him? Could he really have come here to relax?!
"Then, Grand Secretary Zhu, could you tell me why His Majesty has come to Kaifeng this time?" "To arrest corrupt officials, didn't you see that?!" Zhu Xieyuan said calmly.

"Just for this?!" King Zhou looked on with suspicion.

"Isn't that enough?! Fine, I'll tell you the truth. I suspect His Majesty wants to move south and then stay in Nanjing!" Zhu Xieyuan said mysteriously.

"Hiss! The rumors are actually true. Will the high-ranking officials in the court agree to this?!" King Zhou said worriedly.

“No one agreed, but the emperor insisted, he just had to!” Zhu Xieyuan said in grief and indignation.

"What are you two talking about!" Zhu Youjian suddenly appeared from the side.

"Ah, it's nothing. I was just asking the King of Zhou what famous historical sites Kaifeng has!" Zhu Xieyuan said.

"Ah, yes, I heard that Grand Secretary Zhu's family is from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, so I argued with him about whether Leifeng Pagoda or our Kaifeng Iron Pagoda is more beautiful!" King Zhou lied without even thinking.

Zhu Youjian squinted and said, "Uncle, I heard that the Yellow River dike cannot be connected because of your family's farmland!"

"Ah, is that so?!" A hint of panic appeared in King Zhou's eyes. It was true, but not because he was reluctant to give up a few acres of land. Rather, it was a flood discharge outlet that was deliberately left open. The Yellow River dike has varying heights, and by leaving a gap in other places, Kaifeng, where he was, would be relatively safer.

"I have something I'd like to ask of my Imperial Uncle."

"May I ask what Your Majesty's orders are?!" King Zhou immediately became alert.

Zhu Youjian scratched his head and said somewhat awkwardly, "I dismissed the Yellow River Conservancy Commissioner a few years ago. I saw that the Yellow River dike has been in disrepair for many years, and I calculated that there would be a major flood this year. So I want you, Prince Zhou, to temporarily take charge of river affairs and lead people to repair the Yellow River dike."

“This…” King Zhou hesitated, “Your Majesty, according to ancestral teachings, vassal kings are granted fiefs but do not govern the people, they receive salaries but do not manage affairs, and vassal kings cannot hold office in the court!”

"What ancestral precepts? Which ancestor? Emperor Chengzu or Emperor Taizu?! Alright, why bother with all that? If I say you're capable, then you're capable!" Zhu Youjian said impatiently.

"Your Excellency, what do you see?!" King Zhou looked to Zhu Xieyuan for help.

Zhu Youjian looked at him with an unfriendly expression, and the old man immediately felt his scalp tingle. He almost cried, thinking, "Why do you want to harm me, Prince Zhou? Do you take me for Zhou Yafu?!"

(End of this chapter)