In modern times, there was a song called "The Descendant of the Dragon". The lyrics of the song went like this: "In the far east, there is a river, its name is the Yellow River …"
The Yellow River was the mother river of the Chinese nation. This surging mother river had given birth to the brilliant Chinese civilization, but it had never been a "good mother". Throughout history, the constant diversion and flooding of the river had brought countless devastating disasters to the people in the Yellow River basin. Even in the 21st century, there were still many floating corpses in the Yellow River!
Looking at the development of human civilization, it was actually a history of the struggle between man and nature. There were harmonious coexistence, but there were also confrontations. Following the flourishing of Chinese civilization in the Yellow River basin, more and more human activities and increasing population met with floods. Without any accidents, it would develop into floods.
From the history of China, the Yellow River basin had always been in a cycle of decline, war, reconstruction, prosperity, and decline. Every new cycle of prosperity was a new cycle of disaster for nature. As the agricultural civilization of the Han culture moved further and further south, the accumulated silt of hundreds of years finally welcomed a new cycle of eruption.
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Yellow River had more frequent breaches and dikes.
According to the 'Introduction to Controlling the River in the Ming and Qing Dynasties', within the 277 years of the Ming Dynasty's existence, the number of times the Yellow River broke and changed its course reached an astonishing 456 times. On average, it happened once every seven months. In the 1500 years from the Eastern Zhou dynasty to the end of the Tang dynasty, the number of breaches in the Yellow River basin was only 60 or so times. On average, it would happen once every 25 years!
While the Yellow River floods took millions of lives, it also caused a large number of refugees and people to migrate. It formed a "big disaster big tide, small disaster small tide" situation. In the Ming dynasty, out of the 60 million people in the country, about a tenth of them became refugees. Not only did they not have a fixed residence, they wandered in foreign lands. Famine was everywhere, and many starved to death.
The worst hit was the Henan region. In the early Ming dynasty, 72% of the floods occurred in the Henan region!
Of course, because of this, the amount of money that the court spent every year on building dikes and controlling floods was uncountable. According to historical records, in the Ming dynasty, the annual cost of building dikes and controlling floods reached 10% of the court's revenue. In the Qing dynasty, this ratio reached a terrifying 20%!
Within the Sweet Dew Hall, the atmosphere at this moment suddenly became tense.
Li Er asked with an ugly expression, "There will be a flood in Luoyang in nine years? Li Zexuan, did Spiritual Master Ling Xu really have such a prophecy when he was alive ~? "
The five ministers in the hall all looked at Li Zexuan with burning gazes. The Yellow River bursting its banks and flooding Luoyang was not a small matter. Spiritual Master Ling Xu had already become a legend by many people. The prophecy that he made was something that they had to pay attention to!
Last year, Li Zexuan had said that in the sixth month of this year, there would be a plague of locusts in Guanzhong. In the end, with Qin Qiong and Cheng Yaojin leading the military group acting as guarantors, the court sent a fleet down south to trade and trade for grain.
At that time, Zhangsun Wuji and the rest of the civil officials felt that even if the locust plague didn't happen as scheduled, the imperial court wouldn't lose out by exchanging so much food from a small country like Nanyang at such a low price! Moreover, everyone could predict that the decisive battle between the Great Tang and the Turks would take place in the next few years. Even without the plague of locusts, the Great Tang would still need a lot of provisions to prepare for war!
Therefore, they had agreed to Li Zexuan's plan of stockpiling provisions!
But now, Li Zexuan had said that in nine years, there would be a flood in Luoyang, causing the entire city to be flooded. How could they accept this?
One must know that Luoyang's position in the Great Tang was second only to Chang 'an. In the first year of Emperor Yang's great undertaking, Luoyang was already established as the eastern capital. After Li Yuan established the Tang Dynasty, he ordered people to build palaces in Luoyang. Later on, Wu Zetian, who had monopolized power and was the ruler of the dynasty, directly changed the name of the eastern capital to Shendu. From this, one could see the important position of Luoyang in the Tang Dynasty!
Chang 'an was the political center of the Great Tang while Luoyang was the economic and cultural center of the Great Tang! Although the population of Luoyang was not as large as that of Chang 'an, it wasn't far off. The city had at least seven to eight hundred thousand people!
If Luoyang was flooded, the loss would be too great!
Under the gazes of the crowd, Li Zexuan cupped his hands towards Li Er with a solemn expression, "Your Majesty, this is a matter of great importance. This subject does not dare to speak carelessly! My teacher said that in the eleventh year of Zhenguan, yellow gas filled the sky. It rained heavily and the valley water overflowed. It entered Luoyang Palace and was four feet deep. It damaged the left gate and destroyed nineteen palaces and temples! "
This matter was of great importance. Li Zexuan indeed did not dare to speak carelessly. According to official history, in the seventh month of the eleventh year of Zhenguan, Luoyang would indeed be flooded. However, these words were not said by Spiritual Master Ling Xu, but written in the history books!
"What? Water entered Luoyang Palace? "
Hearing Li Zexuan speak as if he had seen it with his own eyes, Li Er's face was instantly shrouded in a layer of haze. Luoyang Palace's terrain was so high. If even Luoyang Palace was flooded four feet deep, then wouldn't the common people be flooded and millions of corpses would be strewn across the land?
"According to what you said, if we plant trees in the Yellow River basin, we can avoid the Luoyang flood nine years later ~?"
Last year, Chang 'an City did not have any snow for the entire winter. This year's locust plague was almost a foregone conclusion. Li Er did not dare to ignore the prophecy of Li Zexuan's master, Spiritual Master Ling Xu.
Li Zexuan pondered for a moment and cupped his hands, "Your Majesty, as the saying goes, it takes ten years to grow trees and a hundred years to nurture people. A sapling growing into a tree is not a matter of one or two days. Improving the soil structure of the Yellow River basin is definitely not something that can be done in one or two years!
This subject cannot guarantee that planting trees will be able to change the fate of Luoyang being flooded nine years later. However, compared to building dams and disaster relief, planting trees is definitely the most effective and cheapest way to control the Yellow River!
Once there is a large scale shelter forest in the Yellow River basin, the amount of sand in the Yellow River will be greatly reduced. At that time, even if we cannot avoid the Luoyang flood nine years later, the overhanging rivers and dams that may appear ten or twenty years later will definitely not appear so easily! This is a matter that will benefit the current generation and the future generations. Your Majesty is wise and has great ambitions. This subject hopes that Your Majesty can make a careful decision! "
Although the Tang Dynasty's Yellow River floods were more frequent than the previous dynasties, compared to the Song Dynasty, Ming Dynasty, and Qing Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty's floods could be said to be less frequent and less serious!
However, Li Zexuan was a descendant of the Yellow Emperor and a transmigrator who knew about the future. Since he was reborn in such an open and tolerant era, he felt that he had a responsibility to control the Yellow River when it was just beginning to become dirty. This way, he could prevent millions or even hundreds of millions of Han people from dying in the flood!
Those people who died in the Yellow River floods were his compatriots!
His Tang Dynasty did not allow for any regrets!
Therefore, Li Zexuan spent a lot of effort and a lot of words to persuade Li Er and this group of trusted officials of the Tang Dynasty to believe in his policy of planting trees and preventing floods!
Thousands of years later, perhaps no one would remember Marquis Yong 'an Li Zexuan, but those who drank the water of the Yellow River as they grew up would remember him as the person who initiated the planting of trees and forests!
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