November 8th.

The sky was a little gloomy, and Yang He and his group left Pizhou City.

But after seeing Pizhou, Yang He planned to inspect the canal.

It is the time. After all, if you have an official position in the future, you cannot run around as much as you do now.

Yesterday, Yang He was busy with the military weapons bureau, but after a day, he spent more than 100 taels of silver, and only recruited a military craftsman. Fortunately, good news came from Yu Blacksmith.

But it was his in-laws, a blacksmith surnamed Li, who was also willing to go to Xin'anzhuang, and the son of Yu blacksmith Yu Youtie, was his daughter.

Then Blacksmith Yu found another stove owner named Jiang Fuhai, a native of Yancheng. He claimed that he could not bear the oppression of Shangguan. He escaped in anger. He fled to Pizhou City last year and took a thin wife to work in the south of Pizhou City for a miserable life.

I heard that the old blacksmith recruited people and would have a good life, so I took the initiative to find him to recruit him.

Then Li Blacksmith found an exiled blacksmith named Niu Jinding, who had a son Niu Xiaoshuan, who was from Dengzhou. He fled south to Pizhou and was originally planning to resume his old business, but if the blacksmith outside went to the local furnace, he had to obtain permission from his local colleagues in advance.

Obviously, the Niu Jinding family did not get such permission and could only do some casual work, especially to help Li Blacksmith. When Li Blacksmith was leaving, he naturally had to take him away.

Then Niu Jinding found another bricklayer named Gu Jiu, who was in his early forties, tall and strong, but he was blinded and called himself a native of Luzhou. When he was young, he was injured when he was arguing with an official and was good at ramming walls and bricks, and he also knew some stonemason skills.

They are also from other places, and they have a hard time making a living in the local area.

Then the bricklayer Gu Jiu found another craftsman with the surname Tao, claiming to be from the Rockets family, but at this time he only sold things to coax children on the street and had no technical content.

Yang He accepted all these people. Although Jiang Fuhai was not professional, he could temporarily let him boil salt. The craftsman surnamed Tao could also engage in gunpowder-related matters.

Gu Jiu, a bricklayer, can be used now.

Manager Huang also helped Yang He recruit some local craftsmen, such as a few kiln workers and a stool. There were two original kiln factories in Pizhou. The second factory made bricks and tiles for construction of city warehouses. The same is true for the stool workers, building walls and repairing warehouses.

However, Pizhou has not been engaged in construction for a long time, and the city is located in the important canal. The merchant goods are extremely impactful. Many things can be bought, and they are cheaper than the local area, so these people are basically unemployed.

Because these people are ordinary technical workers, Yang He did not have the rigid requirement that they would not leave Zhuangzi for three years. When they heard that Xin'an Village had work and food, they were happy to go there.

Yang He was very happy to recruit these people. It seems that the craftsmen are more effective in recruiting locals or local snakes. Yang He asked Manager Huang and others to help him find out slowly.

At the same time, on the eighth day of the lunar month, Yang He planned to see the canal. Manager Huang enthusiastically sent a local shopkeeper as a guide, and then waited for Yang Xianggong to come, he escorted the goods he purchased to Xin'anzhuang.

Manager Huang would also go with him, and he also wanted to see the place with his own eyes.

Yanghe and his party headed north from the west of the city, and from here to the northeast, they could directly reach the canal, about fifty miles away.

They left the city from the west gate "Tongyimen". Although it was early in the morning, pedestrians were still bustling on the road.

This place is considered a scenic spot in Pizhou City. If it were later generations, it would be a tourist and leisure area. There is Liuhou Temple outside the west gate, connected to Jishan Bridge opposite, and then there is Juchuan Temple on the Yi River. There is a fishing pavilion, Tongji Temple, and the Dragon King Temple on the river.

Bange Mountain is located on the other side of the river, surrounding the city, shaped like Bange, with Ganquan Temple next to it.

Soon, everyone got on the river embankment. Although the Yi River was silted, they could walk on some small boats, but everyone still rode horses.

Especially this road is on the high and wide river bank, and it is easy to walk.

In fact, the road was under the river embankment before, but I always encountered meadows and lakes, reeds and catkins, and pedestrians walked on the river embankment. Over time, the road under the river embankment disappeared.

"Grandpa Yang, that's Yang, that's Dahuang Mountain. According to legend, the Red Coat Army once fought with tens of thousands of Jin generals here. "

As the guide, the shopkeeper surnamed Sun is from the local native of Yukou Town. He is quite talkative and has a clear view of the surrounding scenery.

"Gong Gong Yang, this is Lake Man to the east. Five miles northwest, there is Ha Lake, and that is the riverside."

Looking at Yanghe, there are many lakes along the canal line. These lakes are mostly used as water cabinets or water valleys for canals. Theoretically, the surrounding area cannot be reclaimed.

Because there are many swamps, many lakes and rivers cannot be cultivated. However, there are many residents who live in fishing. As long as there is a small piece of dry land by the lake, it is immediately filled with simple reed houses. At this time, Yanghe saw some fishermen riding boats and fishing with cormorants on the water covered with ice.

Therefore, there is a river bank here, and the officials are responsible for collecting fish taxes. The local river bank was built as early as the 14th year of Hongwu.

Yang He and others walked up the river all the way, but because they walked along the river embankment and rode horses, they were still very fast. So after more than an hour, they arrived at the place where the Yi River and the Canal converge.

When you get here, you can see many merchant ships, with 4 million stones of grain every year, plus all kinds of ships, estimated to be nearly 10,000, making the canal extremely prosperous.

However, there are no canal ships and not many merchant ships. However, the mountains are prosperous every year and Linqing is in full swing. Every October 15th, a dam is built to be used as a large and small river channel. It is not until the first day of the February 1st of the following year.

Therefore, during this period, all official and civilian ships were suspended from traffic, waiting for the opening of the dam to be released next year.

The same is true in the Tongji Gate in Huai'an in the south. Every early June, a dam is built to block the yellow water to avoid the outbreak of water and the yellow water flows backwards, and the canal ships will no longer be passed.

The most prosperous period of the canal is from February to May. Most of the remaining ships are short-distance or spend a lot of money to hang from the dam, and the husband relies on this to make a living.

At present, the bandit Li Qingshan is blocked by Hanzhuang Gate, which has affected the passage of canal ships.

Looking at the canal from Yanghe, although it has not reached the prosperous period, there are still many ships sailing on the canal full of floating ice. I don’t know how many ships have passed in a blink of an eye.

Zhang Songtao whispered: "My husband, if you want to grow, this river must participate and even control it."

Yang He was fascinated by the mind. Indeed, this was a river of wealth.

He looked around and formed a dock market here. There were many temples such as the River God Temple, Dragon King Temple, Jellyfish Temple, Yan Gong Temple, Boat God Temple and other temples. Each temple was full of incense and prosperity. When you come and bow, you must go to the temple to worship, donate generously, and pay incense and wealth.

In particular, the boatman should first worship the river god before sailing. Those who cross the river and take the boat for the first time must invest money in Hanoi, which is called "buying money" to pray for a safe arrival at the other side.

And here, there are several ferry boats, each levys of silver every year.

Yang He and others took a boat across the river, and carried the horses over there. Then they arrived at the north bank of Yishui. On the way, they entered the country and threw some money into the river according to customs.

Speaking of the chariot and boat shop, it should be killed without guilt. Of course, judging by Yang He and his group, the boat owners were so tactful that they dared not blackmail them.

After crossing the other side, Yang He and his group continued walking along the canal embankment.

It can be seen that the river embankment on the east bank is higher than here, but it is to prevent the canal from collapsing into Luoma Lake. During the flood season, the water level of Luoma Lake soars, and the embankment between the Canal and Luoma Lake is at risk of collapse at any time.

They walked north along the canal. Overall, it was still prosperous here, with fewer people in the countryside, but because of the troubled times, there were many thieves, and if they were robbed, they would kill people, or put them in gullies or float in rivers and seas.

Of course, the casual thieves didn't dare to make any decisions about Yang He and others, so they all went all the way.

Walking along the river embankment on the west bank of the canal, a phenomenon was also discovered in the Yanghe River.

It seems that the Yi River is a big river and the water level is also high, so it is directly connected to the canal without any barriers. However, if it is another small river and small stream, there are gates at the intersection of the canal, and the same is true for some lakes.

Yanghe speculated that the water level of the canal is slightly higher, which prevents the canal water from falling back and losing water.

I even saw some lakes with low water levels and high earth embankments, and the embankments were covered with stones on both sides. Perhaps in order not to make the water pressure of the canal too strong, some water gates were made on the embankments to regulate excessive water in Hanoi.

Look at the water that can flow directly into the lake through the water gate, or some flow to the lowlands, and some flow into small ditches on the embankment, as a water storage pool.

Yang He analyzed that the power of water pressure on both sides of the river will be dispersed. The water in the reservoir can offset the water pressure of the same height of the canal, and the water in the lake in turn offset the water pressure in the reservoir that does not exceed the water level of the lake. This is a very clever mechanic principle.

Looking at these sluice gates, Manager Sun introduced to Yang He that in this area of ​​the canal, it is more important to maintain the water level of the canal than to grow grain. It is a serious crime to open the gate and release water without permission.

Therefore, every summer and autumn, local farmers will always secretly open the various sluice gates of the canal to survive and irrigate crops.

Officials in charge of rivers should keep the canal open and strictly prohibit this practice, which will always cause countless disputes.

They continued to go north and to the junction of Wuhe and the canal, where there was a big Ji here, called Guojiazhuang. During the Zhengde period, Liu Liu and other bandits rebelled, and the official army was defeated by the Yukou Ji and Guojiazhuang, which was nearby.

Looking at this farm, Yang He was envious. It would be great to lean against the canal.

As you can see, there are many docks, merchant ships pass by, Jinei East and West Streets, and department stores are lined up one after another.

This is a completely occupant village.

When we arrived here, we were nearly eighty miles away from Pizhou City. Yang He and his party were gathering for a short rest, ate a bowl of noodles, and continued northward.

After walking more than ten miles, passing through Wangshizha, it is Likou Town, also known as Likou Ji, which belongs to the junction of Li River and the canal.

This place is still under the jurisdiction of Pizhou. Then, after walking thirty miles, it is Taizhuangji in Shandong County. It is a large market town with more than ten places along the transportation terminals. Every ship is often moored here. The porters, boatmen, officials, garrisons, residents at each terminal are estimated to be 20,000 to 30,000.

However, the Hukouji is also very prosperous, with mules, horses, carriages, hotels and hotels, and a large number of various cities, with residents concentrated in the neighborhood villagers, and the population is more than 10,000.

It is here that Manager Sun’s home is concentrated.

After having a sumptuous lunch at Manager Sun's house, Yang He and others hired a boat to go south along the canal.

Although the boat walked slowly, it could be more relaxed and relaxed. Yang He and others almost froze after riding the horse for a morning.

Soon, the places such as Huokouji, Guojiazhuang, Erlang Temple, Qitang Bridge, Yiyun Wharf were thrown behind him, and Maoerwoji was in front of him.

This is an important market town on the canal. Zhaocun Post is located here, with forty water servants. The old Pizhou had Zhihe Post and Xiapi Post. Later, Zhihe Post was abandoned and Zhaocun Post was added.

There is also a new canal estuary on Maoerwo. In the past, the ship was transported to Zhihekou. In the fifth year of Tianqi, the Majiakou River channel was opened from Luomahukou to the east bank of Zhihe River in Pizhou for 50 miles to avoid Liukou, Zhikou and Moerzhuang areas, and directly to the river.

In the sixth year of Tianqi, it was also discussed that there was Chenyaokou two miles west of Suqian City. It was discussed again that Chengou was opened and that it was 20 miles away from the dangerous Yellow River, which was called Tongji River.

However, in the fifth year of Chongzhen, due to the silt of the Chengou River, the Dongjiagou mouth, which was twenty miles west of Suqian City, was renamed the Tongji Xinhe River to Shunji River.

In history, in the 15th year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty, Dongkou was silted and the Grand Canal was redirected from Luoma Lake to Yaowan Town.

Although Yaowan was also prosperous at this time, it was not one of the main wharfs of the Grand Canal of Beijing and Hangzhou, and it was not yet famous as the "Night Owls Collection".

When we arrived at Maoerwoji, it was almost dark, so Yang He and others were looking for an inn to rest for a night.

The next day, they abandoned the boat and boarded their horses and continued to travel south.

They walked along the west bank of the canal and walked twenty miles southward. It was Wanzhuangji. They walked twenty miles to Tianjiakouji.

After walking twenty miles, we went to Zhihe Town. There was Zhihe Post here in the past, which was abandoned.

From here, you can go east of Zaohe River, connecting to Suqian Border, and Mopanzhuang is located at the straight entrance.

The east is Liukou, and the east is Dongjiagou.

However, although Zhihe Town has abandoned Zhihe Post, a new Zhihekou Inspection Department has been established.

Manager Sun reminded Yang He and others that Jia Husu, the inspector of Zhihekou, was a local dominant, and was supported by Han Lan, the commander of Pizhou Guard, and more than 50 archers under his command. He has always been a crime and has a very bad reputation in the local area, so he can stop the children from crying at night.

When passing by the local area, be careful of this person.

Lao Bainiu: Thank you for your knife in hand, Rain Crush World, Yuanbao's mother, Sipu, vegetable farmers and other book friends for their rewards and support. The next chapter will be at 8:00 tomorrow morning. (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!