Chapter 626: The Son of Heaven Guards the Gate of the Realm

Diwu Lun announced that the Eastern Capital would be established at Di County, to demonstrate his resolve to stand with the He-Ji region against the Yellow River, sharing life and death together — this could indeed be called "the Son of Heaven guarding the gate of the realm." For the elders of Di County, the common people of He-Ji, and even the millions across Ji Province, Qing Province, and Yan Province who had suffered from Yellow River floods over the past twenty years, this news was undoubtedly an immense blessing.

Yet some, upon hearing it, felt only a chill run through their entire body, as if plunged into an icy abyss.

That person was none other than Li Zhong, Inspector of Qing Province. Inspector Li was not lamenting that Linzi had been swapped out for Di County — after all, it still fell under his Qing Province jurisdiction. Diwu Lun had not lied; the Eastern Capital was indeed set in Qing Province, and the fact that it had not been snatched away by Lu in Yan Province was a victory. What worried Li Zhong was that undertaking river control now was, he feared, far from a wise policy.

As the assembled ministers cheered and the common people seethed with excitement, Diwu Lun's spirits were also high. Though Li Zhong wished to remonstrate, after weighing his words several times, he found it difficult to broach the subject.

"River control is what the people's hearts yearn for. What Wang Mang failed to do, His Majesty now undertakes. As the governor responsible for Qing Province, I should be overjoyed, hailing the return of a sage king — what grounds do I have to object?"

Li Zhong knew that when the great river breached at Dong Commandery during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, Chancellor Tian Fen had opposed control efforts. His reasoning was: "River breaches are all the will of Heaven; they should not be forcibly blocked by human effort, for that may not accord with Heaven's will." Of course, the real reason was that Tian Fen's family estate lay on the far side of the floodwaters. At the same time, officials who observed qi and divined also put forward the same view. Emperor Wu of Han, then young, was deceived by his own maternal uncle, resulting in the great river breach remaining unsealed for over twenty years. The rampant Yellow River floods ravaged sixteen eastern commanderies, and the once-prosperous Liang and Chu declined into ruin as a result.

As for the breach during Wang Mang's time, he likewise adopted a hands-off strategy, the reasoning once again being Heaven-human resonance: "The River is the classic watercourse of the Central Realm. When a sage king arises, charts and writings emerge from it; when the kingly way is abandoned, it dries up and ceases. Now it overflows and runs rampant, submerging hills and mounds — this is a great portent. Cultivate governance to respond to it, and the calamitous change will naturally be eliminated." The meaning was that as long as one properly reformed state governance and moved Heaven, the great river would naturally return to its old course.

Of course, the Xin dynasty of Wang Mang never lived to see such an opportunity, overthrown instead by Diwu Lun and the rebel armies spawned by the river calamity.

Now that Diwu Lun had resolutely declared he would deal with the mess left by the previous dynasty, if Li Zhong wished to remonstrate, he certainly could not trot out the Heaven-human resonance rhetoric again. After the events in Lu, everyone knew the Emperor did not buy into that.

So Li Zhong waited until nightfall, after the assembled ministers had taken their leave from the cramped temporary palace in Di County, before coming to offer his counsel: "Establishing the capital at Di County is most excellent. However, regarding the river control undertaking, I beseech Your Majesty to think thrice!"

Diwu Lun looked at Li Zhong and frowned. "Since the great river shifted to its new course, its bed has been unstable, the waters constantly encroaching southward. It often inundates Pingyuan Commandery, then advances south to invade Qiansheng, spills into the Ji River, and even stretches to Jinan, blocking the transport canals — this truly harms the state's economy. Should the great river indeed seize the Ji's channel to enter the sea, half of Qing and Yan will become a disaster zone, and the displaced will number far more than a hundred thousand. As Inspector of Qing Province, you ought to bear this heavy responsibility. How can you say the river cannot be controlled? Surely you are not about to repeat that empty talk of 'cultivate governance to respond to it, and the calamitous change will naturally be eliminated'?"

The Emperor's questioning had already grown quite stern. Li Zhong hastily knelt, kowtowed, and with tears said, "I am a man of Qing Province — how could I not wish for the Yellow River and the Ji to be clearly separated, not encroaching upon one another? Yet I am also Your Majesty's subordinate and dare not harbor selfish motives. Not controlling the river may, as in the time of Emperor Wu of Han, bring disaster to half a province. But controlling the river may brew an even greater calamity!"

Li Zhong began to explain his rather astonishing theory: "Controlling the river is no less than a great military campaign. The court would have to mobilize ten thousand oxen and horses, a thousand supply wagons, and a hundred thousand corvée laborers. From Qing Province, Ji Province, and the Central Plains, provisions would be hauled a thousand li, all rushing to the region between the Yellow River and the Ji."

"Once the work begins, the expenses internal and external, the wages of clerks and soldiers, the materials of earth and stone, the provisions for men and horses — the daily cost will be a thousand pieces of gold."

"In the time of Emperor Wu of Han, with the flourishing age of the Central Realm, he dispatched worthy ministers Ji An and Zheng Dangshi to oversee the sealing of the breach, employing over a hundred thousand men, yet their labor was in vain. Only after more than twenty years was the breach finally sealed. Thus we know that river control is no work of a mere ten days. For Your Majesty to declare war on the great river is indeed heroic, but this war, I fear, will last several years, even a decade! It will be like opening a wound on a person's body, the blood flowing without cease — the state's strength will be drained by it, to the detriment of Your Majesty's great enterprise of conquering Wu, destroying Shu, and unifying all under Heaven!"

Now it was the same: after twenty years of delay, the Yellow River's course change was already a settled reality, by no means as simple as merely plugging a breach.

Diwu Lun fell into thought. "What you mean is…"

"The great river must be controlled, but it cannot be controlled now." Li Zhong offered his proposal. "Your Majesty, for the next ten years, focus solely on unification. Let the people of He-Ji endure a little longer!"

"You are indeed a loyal minister of Great Wei." Diwu Lun's assessment was laden with meaning. Li Zhong, Li Zhong — his loyalty was to the Emperor, not to the common people.

"But no."

Diwu Lun swept his wide sleeve, resolute and decisive. "The matter of river control is an arrow on the drawn bow — it must be released. We cannot make the people wait even one more year."

"Ever since Wang Mang ignored the Wei Commandery breach, the great river has ravaged three provinces for twenty years. Over a million people have become displaced refugees, and even more remain stranded locally, struggling bitterly. Their desperate hope for the river calamity to end is like a prolonged drought longing for sweet rain."

"How can one, when a man is about to die of thirst and sees the sky darkening with impending rain, have the Rain Master say: 'Wait a while; it will surely rain in three days'?"

Diwu Lun was very clear: how many resources to invest in controlling the Yellow River, how much manpower to conscript, and how many years it would take to repair — these were questions of capability.

But whether to control it or not — that was a question of attitude!

Qing and Yan had only just submitted and felt little centripetal force toward him. Diwu Lun had to demonstrate a side utterly different from the Xin dynasty to win the support of every social class. And river control — it was no exaggeration to say that if he could truly remedy the chaos and restore order, reversing the floods that plagued the Han and Xin eras, Diwu Lun's dynasty could gain the support of the tens of millions living along the Yellow River's lower reaches!

Seeing Diwu Lun thus, Li Zhong raised a second point.

"Though Your Majesty possesses the heart to save the people, an edict is one thing; how it is carried out below is another. To meet deadlines, cruel officials may well emulate the press-gang tyranny of the Xin dynasty. With tens or hundreds of thousands gathered, poorly fed and clothed, exposed to cold and heat, countless will likely die of disease — to say nothing of the desperate men of the left-side hovels gathering as a result. If mishandled, I fear it could brew an incident like Chen Sheng and Wu Guang's bonfire and fox cry."

Although Diwu Lun understood Li Zhong's concerns, his own view was diametrically opposed.

"When Wang Mang refused to control the great river, those who lost their livelihoods between the Yellow River and the Ji were no fewer. A million refugees swelled the ranks of the Copper Horses and the Red Eyebrows, bringing chaos to the realm and nearly allowing Liu Ziyu and Fan Chong to succeed."

"Now the former followers of the Copper Horses and Red Eyebrows have nowhere to be resettled. I will precisely use work-relief, ordering them to return to their native lands between the rivers to participate in building dikes and dredging channels, with the court providing food and clothing. This is a method that serves both ends."

In Diwu Lun's view, when it came to the refugees created by the river calamity, leaving them unchecked versus gathering and controlling them — the latter was still more reassuring. But this meant an added major burden on state finances for the next decade.

Li Zhong raised a third point: "Even if the court's funds and grain are distributed in full, and the Three Excellencies, Inspectors, and Governors exert themselves, below the commandery and provincial level, most are holdover petty officials from the Xin dynasty. Their corruption is rampant; I fear they will exploit and skim at every level, so that by the time it reaches the laborers, only chaff and sand remain."

Diwu Lun slapped his thigh. "This is precisely why I established the Eastern Capital between the Yellow River and the Ji! To use the secondary capital to supervise the river control progress. Chancellor of the Right Dou Rong will manage logistics from Luoyang and Yecheng. You, along with Inspector of Ji Province Pi Tong, shall assist Chancellor Dou. As for the specific river control strategy, it will be entrusted to those versed in water conservancy — to be handled by the Commandant of Water Resources, Du Shi."

Li Zhong had said what needed saying. Though worry still lingered in his heart, Diwu Lun was so confident and insistent, and had a detailed plan — it did not seem like a spur-of-the-moment whim. He said no more, merely assented, took his leave, and walked out of the temporary palace, consoling himself thus.

"During the reign of Emperor Cheng of Han, because a Yellow River breach was sealed, the era name was changed to 'Heping' — 'the River Pacified.'"

"Yet the great river was never truly pacified. If His Majesty can truly bring peace between the Yellow River and the Ji, it could be called continuing the achievements of Yu above and relieving the people's suffering below!"

…

When it came to discussing river control, there was one person Diwu Lun could not fail to consult — none other than Huan Tan.

Huan Tan had served as an Attendant Officer to the Grand Minister of Works when Wang Mang held power. Because of his broad learning, he had once presided over a conference on Wang Mang's behalf: that great assembly took place before Wang Mang usurped the Han, when the Yellow River was already showing signs of unruliness — it was also Wang Mang's last chance to control the river.

Yet whenever Huan Tan mentioned that conference, he simply shook his head. "Not worth mentioning — mostly empty words."

"One person among them said that the Yellow River's breaches always occurred around Pingyuan and Dong Commandery, where the terrain is low-lying and the soil loose and soft. It is said that when Yu the Great controlled the river, he emptied out this region to allow the great waters to discharge. We should emulate the ancient practice, vacating those commanderies and no longer building government posts or civilian dwellings there."

This involved relocating several million people — making way for the water. Naturally, it was impractical.

But even more impractical proposals followed. Huan Tan wanted to laugh when he mentioned another man's suggestion. "A certain Censor said that the 'Yu Gong' contains the record 'the nine rivers were channeled,' meaning that in the Xia dynasty, the Yellow River had nine tributaries. We should search ancient texts and, even if we cannot dredge nine, as long as we can open four or five in Ji Province, it should be beneficial."

If not nine Grand Canals on the scale of the Jing-Hang, then at least nine Honggou Canals — there was simply no possibility of execution.

And there was one genius who combined the madness of the first two, proposing that to fully restore Yu the Great's old course, the tens of millions of people in Ji Province, Qing Province, and Yan Province should all be relocated, allowing the Yellow River to follow the Taihang Mountains and change its course to enter the sea from Yan.

Diwu Lun was amused just listening. Truly worthy of old Wang Mang — even river control adhered to the spirit of restoring antiquity. No wonder that bustling, lively conference ultimately achieved nothing.

After summarizing the lessons of the past, when Diwu Lun summoned Du Shi, the Commandant of Water Resources, he set the baseline for this river control effort with him: "Times differ and circumstances change; even the blue sea can turn into mulberry fields. The mountains and rivers of Ji Province, Qing Province, and Yan Province are vastly different from the time of Yu the Great…"

This difference was primarily caused by the Yellow River itself. Places that were once ocean had, over thousands of years, silted up into plains. Meanwhile, river channels that had once flowed smoothly, after prolonged blockage and rising beds, had become perilously unstable. Using the maps and thinking of the past to control the river would absolutely lead to great losses.

"The great river has been breached for twenty years; the old course cannot be restored." Diwu Lun also had his own interests to consider. Wei Commandery and Henei north of the river were his core territory in the east. If he expended manpower and resources to return the Yellow River to its old course, only to harm those two commanderies, that would be a loss Diwu Lun could hardly bear.

"We must still stabilize it in its new course and prevent it from encroaching southward into the Ji River and the Si and Huai systems. You have walked the land between the rivers for half a year — do you have a plan now?"

Diwu Lun looked at Du Shi. This young man from Henei was a renowned water conservancy expert who had assisted Diwu Lun in greatly expanding water-powered machinery and workshops in Guanzhong and had also overseen the dredging of several small canals. But compared to the long, winding Yellow River, all past experience became insignificant.

Du Shi presented the observations he had gathered while traversing the Yellow River's old and new courses — already a thick stack of papers. He said, "Though I have traveled for half a year, I have still been unable to survey every li of the river channel. We must still dispatch clerks to further assess the terrain, and then plan the direction of the new course. To this end, we must not hesitate to cut through hills, break through obstructions, straighten gullies, dredge blockages, and at the same time guard against critical junctures, building dikes between the Yellow River and the Ji to prevent floodwaters from invading the Ji."

Diwu Lun asked him, "How much manpower and financial resources will it require? How many years?"

Du Shi gritted his teeth and answered truthfully: "It will require mobilizing a hundred thousand laborers and five years' time just to complete the dikes and ensure the great river does not encroach upon the Ji."

"As for thoroughly curing the Yellow River's flood calamity so that there are no more great disasters, I fear it would require several hundred thousand men, ten years of effort, and an expenditure of coin and silk in the tens of billions!"

Such an enormous cost made Diwu Lun fall silent. Only after a long while did he smile and say, "First complete the first step — safeguard the Ji River and the safety of the people of Qing Province. As for permanently ending the river calamity, that can wait until all under Heaven is unified, and then we can concentrate the strength of the entire realm to accomplish it."

At this point, Diwu Lun clapped his hands. "Right, come with me, both of you. Let me show you something."

Both Huan Tan and Du Shi knew this was the prelude to the Emperor demonstrating some marvelous object. For Huan Tan, it had been the telescope; for Du Shi, it had been the enormous water-powered machinery Diwu Lun had ordered improved upon the foundation of his "water-powered bellows."

The two exchanged glances and simply followed Diwu Lun to the outskirts of Di County. Here was the encampment of the accompanying army, along with many craftsmen traveling with them. At this moment, artisans and soldiers were gathered together, working in a flurry of intense activity.

When the crowd drew near, they saw that each group had its own task: some were calcining the mountain-like piles of countless oyster and clam shells from the seashore of Qiansheng Commandery, burning them into "clam ash," then mixing it with finely sifted clay, and finally blending it with crushed slag — Qi was a major salt and iron province, and close to the sea, so these materials were all readily available and easy to find.

The resulting gray, dusty material, in the next stage, was mixed with water and stirred into a slurry, which was then poured into rammed-earth forms, mingled with crushed stone. The entire worksite was thick with dust and a strange stench, making the accompanying scholar-officials unable to resist covering their mouths and noses, wondering why the Emperor had brought them here.

"This is the outer wall of the provisional Eastern Capital, built with a new technique," Diwu Lun told the crowd.

Even so, they should have used the traditional rammed-earth method — can this slurry really be trusted? Wouldn't this just give assassins an opening!

Until they reached the next section, where the forms had been filled several days earlier. Artisans and soldiers were carefully removing the wooden boards, and after long exposure to the sun, the wall had already taken the shape of a corner rampart.

"Huan Qing, Du Qing, go touch it."

At Diwu Lun's command, Huan Tan and Du Shi stepped forward to test the wall, and immediately let out exclamations of "Oh?" in surprise.

Contrary to their expectations, the wall was remarkably hard. A military officer, unwilling to believe it, even picked up a nearby hoe and struck it with force, but only jarred his hands numb — its solidity far surpassed that of rammed earth!

Du Shi grew excited; he vaguely understood why the Emperor had chosen to show him this thing, and what use it could be put to.

"Indeed, this substance might be used to assist in water control."

Diwu Lun pointed at this crude, still-to-be-improved native cement, and gave it a new name.

"Since this river-control undertaking is to carry on the achievement of Yu the Great, I wish to name it..."

"Self-Growing Soil!"