Chapter 653: Another Formidable Foe

The yellow waters surged endlessly, stretching beyond sight.

At this moment, the Hongxing Emperor of the Great Ming stood atop a long stone-built embankment, gazing out at the boundless yellow flood, utterly at a loss.

Even Zhu Cilang had moments of helplessness!

Because he knew that this time he had met a true formidable foe — one that Zhu Cilang could never defeat in his lifetime!

That formidable foe was none other than the surging yellow waters before the Zhu Emperor's eyes!

This was the water of the Yellow River, which had flowed south through Xuzhou, seized the Si River, and seized the Huai River!

The Yellow River's seizure of the Huai to enter the sea had not been a matter of merely a year or two. It first occurred at the transition between the Northern and Southern Song dynasties, when Du Chong, the garrison commander of the Song's eastern capital, in order to stop the Jin troops from advancing south, deliberately breached the dike west of Ligu Ford in Hua County, sending the Yellow River eastward through Ligu Ford, south of Hua County, between Puyang and Dongming, then through Juye, Jiaxiang, and Jinxiang in southwestern Shandong into the Si River, and from the Si into the Huai. By now it had been several hundred years!

If what the Yellow River's seizure of the Huai brought were merely water, it would not have been a great problem — at most it would have widened the channel at the Huai's lower reaches near the sea, which might even have benefited the economy around the Huai's estuary. But the reason the Yellow River was yellow and turbid was that it carried enormous quantities of silt. And this silt would settle on the riverbed in stretches where the current was gentler; accumulated day by day, month by month, the riverbed would gradually rise, forming a suspended river — in severe cases even silting up the channel entirely and causing the river to change course.

By now the Yellow River had seized the Si and the Huai for several hundred years, and the amount of silt brought down over those centuries was probably an astronomical figure. Thus the Guo River and the Ying River, which in earlier years had shared the duty of carrying the Yellow River's southward flow, had already silted up, leaving only the single channel of the Si. And the Yellow River's entry point into the Huai had likewise been reduced to Qingkou, near the seat of Huai'an Prefecture.

The Yellow River, the Huai River, and the Grand Canal — three rivers converged at Qingkou, and one could well imagine the sheer volume of water.

And the channel running east from Qingkou to the sea, after centuries of silting, had gradually risen until it was on the verge of disappearing!

Consequently, vast quantities of Yellow River and Huai River water had no choice but to flow through the Grand Canal into the Yangtze. To ensure the safety of navigation on the canal, in the thirty-second year of Wanli the Ming court had been forced to spend enormous sums to build a new channel parallel to the old canal route — the Hanzhuang Canal. Yet the immense flow of the annual flood season still could not be diverted to the sea or the Yangtze in time.

As a result, Hongze Lake near Xuyi became the "reservoir" for storing Yellow River and Huai River water (Hongze Lake itself had formed after the Yellow River seized the Huai in the Song dynasty), and as vast amounts of silt settled on the lakebed, the water level of Hongze Lake rose year by year, flooding repeatedly.

With no alternative, the Ming court could only build great dikes around Hongze Lake. The stone embankment on which Zhu Cilang now stood was none other than the ten-thousand-zhang-long Gaojia Weir on the eastern side of Hongze Lake!

It was a great dam more than ten thousand zhang in length (over thirty kilometers), over one zhang high (about four meters), built of rammed earth faced with stone. After this great dam was completed, the flooding east of Hongze Lake in Huai'an and Yangzhou Prefectures was somewhat reduced. But the western shore of Hongze Lake then suffered, to the point of threatening the safety of the imperial ancestral tomb at Sizhou.

To alleviate the flooding at Sizhou, the renowned official Pan Jixun, who had overseen the construction of the Gaojia Weir, also built the forty-li Guiren Dike downstream on the Sui River, forcing the Sui into the Yellow (the Si), cutting off the flow to protect the tomb.

"This dike is very well built! How much did it cost?"

Gazing at the boundless yellow waters, Zhu Cilang sighed, then asked about the silver.

"When Pan Yinchuan oversaw the work, he built more than sixty li of the Gaojia Weir, more than forty li of the Guiren Dike, sealed over one hundred and thirty breaches, raised more than fifty-six thousand zhang of distant embankments along both banks at Xu, Huai, Pi, Su, Tao, and Qing, and built one great dam each at Dang and Feng. The project was immense, and the treasury funds expended amounted to over one hundred sixty thousand taels."

The one answering Zhu Cilang's question was the newly appointed Governor-General of the River Works, Fang Gongyue. He had previously served as Governor of Hubei. At the beginning of the first year of Hongxing, Zhu Cilang, feeling his finances had loosened, decided to properly harness the Huai River, and so consulted Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu, and Zuo Maodi, who together recommended Fang Gongyue. Fang Gongyue had never managed a river, but he had built the sea wall at Songjiang — also a stone wall, over eight li long and extremely sturdy.

"So great a project cost only one hundred sixty thousand taels?" Zhu Cilang was taken aback. Setting aside how corrupt Ming officials were, even if not a single cash had been embezzled, a project of that scale could not possibly have been done for one hundred sixty thousand taels!

"Your Majesty may not be aware," Fang Gongyue explained, "that the people of the Huai region have long suffered from flooding, and Master Pan was renowned for his water management, having served four terms in river administration and being known as an incorruptible official. Therefore the gentry of Huai'an and Yangzhou were all willing to donate funds and grain, and the farmers were willing to render labor service to build the dikes. That is why it cost only one hundred sixty thousand, and all of it from the treasury."

Zhu Cilang said, "Even so, the silver spent was still too little. Pan Jixun was an honest and capable minister, and Zhang Wenzhong (Zhang Juzheng) above him was likewise a pillar of the state! Fang, my minister, We know you too are an honest and capable official, and skilled at building dikes. The Huai River is entrusted to you. However, We are richer than His Late Majesty of the Shenzong reign. Spend whatever should be spent — not only on great works and major projects, but also on small repairs and minor upkeep. If a breach or overtopping occurs anywhere, seal it as promptly as possible! If it cannot be sealed, then prioritize protecting the Huai and protecting the grain. There is no need to consider the canal or the Sizhou imperial tomb."

The Zhu Emperor paused. "The canal north of the Huai is already useless, and the Sizhou imperial tomb will be relocated to Fengyang as soon as possible."

Fang Gongyue nodded and said, "This old minister understands. Food is the heaven of the people. Now the southeast is short of grain, rice prices are high, and the common folk can scarcely survive."

Zhu Cilang also sighed. "So the Huai grain must not be lost!"

"Protect the tomb, protect the canal transport" was a principle of Ming governance of the Yellow and Huai rivers — that is, to preserve the safety of the Sizhou imperial tomb and the Grand Canal as far as possible. And protecting the canal transport ranked above protecting the tomb, because after Zhu Di moved the capital, the more than four million shi of tribute grain transported annually by canal was the lifeline of Beijing and absolutely could not be lost.

To guarantee the transport of tribute grain, when the Yellow River flooded, Ming water-management officials had no choice but to seal off the eastern and northern directions as much as possible. At the same time, to protect the tomb, they also had to seal the southwest. Thus the Yellow River water gradually converged into the Si, all of it entering the Huai by way of the Si.

As a result, the channel of the Si became extremely broad — and once the channel was broad, the current slowed during the dry season, and once the current slowed, silt easily settled.

So the bed of the Si rose ever higher!

The same problem also appeared at the Huai River's estuary. The bed at the Huai's mouth rose ever higher, gradually blocking the outlet to the sea.

In short, this Yellow River and Huai River were now the formidable foe that Zhu Cilang could never defeat in his lifetime.

Knowing that no amount of money could defeat the Huai and Yellow Rivers, Zhu Cilang left the Gaojia Weir with a heavy heart, mounted the short, stout horse that Wu Sangui had presented as tribute, and returned to his temporary residence at Bochi Mountain in Huai'an.

The party had only just arrived at the temporary residence when they saw the military strategist Li Yan and the Embroidered Uniform Guard Commander Zhu Chunjie coming out from Jinghui Temple, where the Zhu Emperor was lodged, to greet them. Both wore smiling expressions, and upon seeing the Zhu Emperor they not only paid their respects but also offered congratulations.

Zhu Cilang, still brooding over the state and the people, did not react at once and asked, "Where does this joy come from?"

Zhu Chunjie smilingly produced the memorial that Empress Wu Sanmei had sent with him, and presented it with both hands. "Your Majesty, the Imperial Noble Consort Zheng has given birth to the eldest prince!"

The eldest prince! It was indeed a joyous event! Though not a son by the empress, he was still an heir to the line!

But why had this news been brought by the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard?

Zhu Cilang's mind was far too sharp — the moment he saw Zhu Chunjie, he knew something else must have happened!

"Strategist, Chunjie, come with Us," Zhu Cilang said with a smile. "Tell Us everything in detail."

As he spoke, Zhu Cilang had already dismounted from the short, stout horse and walked with Li Yan and Zhu Chunjie toward the imperial study within Jinghui Temple. Once inside the study and seeing no outsiders present, Zhu Chunjie took out the intercepted handwritten edict of the Retired Emperor and handed it to Zhu Cilang.

Zhu Cilang opened the Chongzhen Emperor's handwritten edict and read it through, his expression unchanged.

"Your Majesty," Zhu Chunjie said, "these days this subject has also obtained many letters in Gao Yushun's own hand, all addressed to governors-general, governors, and commanders across the realm, inciting rebellion."

"Have any couriers been caught?" Zhu Cilang asked.

"Some have been caught," Zhu Chunjie said, "but they know nothing. Those behind this operate with great secrecy and leave no traces."

Zhu Cilang gave a cold snort. "Even without traces, We know who is behind it!"

(End of Chapter)