It wouldn't be too difficult to plant poplar trees in the wasteland around Summer State City. As long as the citizens in the city were mobilized to plant them, it would be done in a year. It wouldn't be too difficult to water and maintain them. The results would be seen in a few years.
However, the desertification of the entire Xia Zhou was definitely not limited to the area around the city. Desertification had occurred in all directions, especially in the north and west, where the degree of desertification was the highest. There were also several counties in the north of Xia Zhou, which also had very serious desertification. If the deserts in these places were eliminated, a lot of poplar trees would need to be planted. Moreover, the young saplings that had just been planted for one or two years needed to be watered and maintained frequently, otherwise they would dry up and die.
Under the premise of outdated equipment, it was very difficult to maintain such a large area of plant-based afforestation. What was even more difficult was that it was difficult to convince the local people and obtain their support.
After all, ordinary people still relied on the cultivated land at home to support themselves. Their livelihood would be affected if they were forced to plant trees. This was especially true for the people of Huaxia. They were very stubborn about their land. Unless it was absolutely necessary, they would not be willing to give up their land. It would not be easy to convince them to give up their land.
People of later generations understood the role of plant-based afforestation in the environment, but people of this era did not think so. They opened up wasteland for planting, cut down huge trees to build houses, and caused great damage to the environment, causing the environment to gradually become desertified. However, they themselves did not think so. They did not think that it was they who cut down trees and destroyed forests that caused the desertification of the land. They thought that it was because the weather often did not rain, which caused the local desertification. They even thought that someone in the area had done something bad, so the heavens wanted to punish the people here by not letting it rain, which gradually caused the phenomenon of desertification here.
This ignorance of scientific knowledge made it extremely difficult to persuade them to return the land to forests. It was even impossible to persuade them at all.
"Madam, you see that there are thousands of acres of wasteland. This place is far away from the river. The original cultivated land has been abandoned, and no crops will grow. However, there are too many places like this in Xia Zhou. If you want to plant all of them with poplar trees, it will require a lot of manpower and material resources. The later watering and maintenance will be a big problem. It is definitely not an easy task.
You think too much. "Ang Lee said.
Obviously, Li Hanlu thought that the task would be completed after planting the poplar saplings. However, this was obviously not feasible. After planting the trees, they needed to be watered and even continued watering until the roots of the saplings developed for a certain time and had the ability to absorb water from the depths of the ground. Only then would there be no need to continue watering them..... and they needed to be watered all the time. Otherwise, it was very likely that they would not survive.
"Most of the desert areas in the Summer Province are deserted, just deserts. The Great Tang has so many deserts, so why bother with those useless places? It's enough as long as the borders of the cities are covered in greenery."
., Li Hanlu.
This kind of thinking was very short-sighted, but at the same time, it was also very realistic. After all, it was not easy to conquer desertified land. Small-scale desertified land was not difficult to manage, but large-scale desertified land was more difficult to manage. It required a huge amount of manpower and resources to conquer, and other than the imperial court, no one else had the ability to do this.
It was too difficult to persuade the imperial court to invest a lot of manpower and material resources to conquer deserts. It was estimated that no one, from the emperor to the ministers, would agree. After all, the Tang Dynasty had tens of thousands of miles of rivers and mountains. Its land area was large enough. There were innumerable villages of fish and rice, and its products were rich in the world. They could have all kinds of products they wanted. Therefore, why would they care about a small amount of desertified land? The imperial court would not frown even if they threw away all the desertified land. After all, the imperial court had to weigh the pros and cons before considering anything. Only when the pros outweighed the cons, the imperial court would unanimously approve it.
Large-scale afforestation to conquer desertified deserts would bring too little benefits. At least in the eyes of the common people, the benefits would not be great. The cost would be astronomical. Even the wealthy imperial court would not be able to bear it. Therefore, there was almost no possibility of it being passed.
Of course, if the desert was not in Summer but on the edge of Chang 'an City, a large number of sandstorms would sweep through Chang' an City every windy season, causing the entire city to be shrouded in fog. In this case, the imperial court would pay attention to it, and the possibility of it being approved would be very high.
For example, there was a desert in the future. The scale of the desert was very large, but the imperial court invested a lot of manpower and resources to conquer it. The reason was that the desert was too close to the capital. Once the windy season came, a large amount of sand and dust would sweep through the entire capital, causing the nobles living in the capital to suffer. Therefore, they decided to invest a lot of manpower and resources to conquer the desert. They successfully conquered the desert that was hanging above the capital. From then on, the situation of the sandstorm in the capital began to improve. It was not just a little bit better.
"Madam, you're right. I'm just thinking about it. The imperial court will never approve it. How can these guys think about what will happen hundreds or thousands of years later? They only think about what's in front of them."
Ang Lee sighed.
When the imperial court of any empire considered a problem, they would think from the perspective of interests. The pursuit of interests was an eternal truth. It was obviously impossible to expect them to consider their descendants.
After the afternoon, the wind became stronger. The wind blew more sand and dust higher and farther. Even Ang Lee, who was standing on the tall city wall, could feel the soil entering his nostrils. The unique smell of the soil was easy to detect. Obviously, Ang Lee did not want the soil to blow on his face, especially in his mouth, nose, and eyes. He could not tolerate sand and dust.
"Madam, the sand and dust here is too heavy. You'd better wear a mask!"
A few years ago, Li An had invented a mask, which was an advanced protective equipment with filtering performance. With this kind of advanced equipment, he didn't have to worry about sand entering his mouth and nose. As for his eyes, with the filter of his eyelashes, it wasn't a big problem, unless the sand was very serious. In that case, he would need to wear professional sandproof glasses. Such glasses were available, and he brought them with him when he set out. Now, the wind and sand were not very strong, so he didn't need to use this kind of glasses.
Li Hanlu took a mask and put it on her mouth and nose. Ang Lee also put it on. This way, although it was a little difficult to breathe, it prevented sand and dust from entering one's mouth and nose. It was worth the effort.
Xia Zhou City had two walls, an inner city and an outer city. The inner city was divided into two cities, east and west. The size of the eastern city was not much different from that of the western city. The eastern city had a circumference of more than five miles, while the western city was slightly smaller with a circumference of less than five miles. As for the outer city wall, it was ten miles in each direction and about fifty miles in circumference.
At that time, when this city was built, it was designed as the capital of Huxia. Therefore, the scale of the city was so huge. With the fall of the Huxia Empire, the administrative status here had plummeted. As a result, it was not suitable to maintain a city of such a scale. The population was not so large and could not support such a large city. Therefore, the outer city was gradually abandoned. The local garrison and soldiers moved into the inner city to live, and the people living outside the city had begun to grow crops between the inner and outer city. Some people even directly destroyed the outer city wall in order to get soil to build houses. As a result, the outer city wall was gradually destroyed. Gradually, only the outer city wall in the east was left. The rest of the outer city wall was almost destroyed beyond recognition. In some places, the outer city wall was less than two meters high. Ordinary people could easily climb over it, let alone defend against strong enemies.
The imperial court turned a blind eye to the people's wanton destruction of the outer city wall. As long as they did not destroy the inner city wall, it was fine. After all, this was not the capital. It was a waste to have two city walls. The longer the city wall, the more defense forces were needed. If there was not enough military support, defense would be a big problem. Therefore, taking the initiative to abandon the outer city wall and using the limited military strength to defend the inner city wall was the best strategy.
When the outer city wall was built, it was too sturdy. Therefore, even if the people wantonly destroyed it, they could not completely erase the basic outline of the outer city wall of Xia Zhou City. Looking from afar, the outer city wall could still be seen clearly.
Through the destruction of the city wall, it also confirmed some historical records. For example, according to historical records, when the city wall was built, many craftsmen were killed. The bodies of the craftsmen were buried inside the city wall. When the people destroyed the outer city wall, they clearly saw these human bones. Many of the people who dug out the human skulls were so scared that they fainted. There were also some people who were so scared after digging out the human skulls that they did not dare to continue destroying the city wall.
From Ang Lee's angle, the outline of the outer city wall in front of him had become an irregular sawtooth shape. This was due to the wind and sun of nature, as well as the local people's destruction. In a few hundred years, this place would probably be completely gone.
The outer city wall was not the only one that was destroyed. The palace hall in the inner city was also destroyed beyond recognition.
When the city was first built, the tallest building in the inner city was the palace hall. That was the place where the highest ruler of the Huxia Empire lived. The building must be tall and mighty.
According to historical records, the Huxia City at that time was built with tall terraces and pavilions connected by flying pavilions. They were all carved with pictures, embroidered with silk, and decorated with paintings. That was to say, no words could express the height and grandeur of the city.
After the fall of the Huxia Empire, because this city was no longer the capital, such a tall building like the palace naturally could not exist. Otherwise, it would be improper for a small official to live in such a luxurious palace, and the emperor would lose face. If there was an independent regime, the construction of the capital city and the palace would be unnecessary. Therefore, the tall and luxurious palace could not continue to exist. All the items used by the royal family in the palace were naturally moved away, and not a single one could be left behind. As for the tall palace that could not be moved away, the most reliable and convenient method was to directly seal it up and let it perish on its own. No money would be spent on its maintenance. Over time, no matter how tall and luxurious the palace was, it would become desolate and deserted. After a few years, even if it was not sealed up, no one would live in it. This was because as long as there were no humans living and taking care of it, no matter how good the palace was, it would become a playground for all kinds of animals. Spider webs alone could make the entire palace a mess.
The Huxia Empire had been destroyed for hundreds of years. During these hundreds of years, many buildings in the Huxia City needed to be demolished. The damaged city walls also needed to be repaired. Where could the required building materials be found? The abandoned palace was undoubtedly the best choice. Therefore, the useless palace was gradually dismantled.
After the imperial court dismantled the main building materials of the palace, there was no need to seal up the remaining debris. Therefore, when the commoners in the city needed to build a house, they would also dismantle some usable stones and wood. This would cause the palace hall to be damaged at a faster rate. In the end, only the foundation was left. All the usable materials had been dismantled, and it looked desolate.
"Madam, please take a look. There is a large open space in the east of the city. Some small sheds have been built at the entrance. These are where the homeless and poor live. This used to be the splendid palace, which was Helian Bobo's palace. Now, it has become dilapidated."
Ang Lee pointed to the original location of the palace and said.
"Oh, that's Helian Bobo's palace. I really can't see anything. It looks so desolate now!"
Li Hanlu lamented.
"That's right! That place used to be the most magnificent place in the entire city. But now, it has become the place where the poorest commoners live. It's the same land, but there is such a huge difference. It really makes one sigh! "
Ang Lee said with a smile.
What made Li An sigh was the fact that such a sturdy city was easily breached by the Northern Wei army. The one who breached the city was the famous Northern Wei Emperor, Tuoba Dao. This guy was very powerful and had fought countless battles in his life, winning countless battles. When he was attacking Tong Wan City, in order to investigate the situation inside the city, he actually put on the Great Xia army's uniform and entered the city with the defeated army. After he was discovered, he was able to sneak into the palace and use a woman's skirt as a rope to sneak out of the city.
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