When people think of the Yellow River, they inevitably think of the great river that originates in the plateau and flows eastward into the sea. It is the mother river of Chinese civilization, which has given birth to a brilliant civilization for thousands of years.

However, in today's Great Song Dynasty, a peak era of Chinese culture, the mother of the Yellow River and her descendants have been in turmoil for decades, and in just a few decades, there have been several large-scale diversions in the lower reaches of the Yellow River. The southern part of the entire Hebei East Road, because of the great diversion and breach of the Yellow River, is almost white.

Now in the north of Jishui, there is no more prosperous scene!

August and autumn have always been the harvest season, the south of Jishui, the fields are heavy waiting to be harvested, and the cars and horses and pedestrians on the road are also endless, as if to remind Wu Haogu: this is one of the most beautiful times in classical China.

However, this beautiful era seems to have only ended in Jishui. The north and south of Jishui are two worlds.

What Wu Haogu sees now is that the fields are barren and sparsely populated.

"How so? How come the land in Jibei is not cultivated? Where have all the people gone? ”

Wu Haogu rode a horse and walked side by side with Ma Zhi and Ximen Qing. Looking at the barren scenery in front of him, he couldn't help but ask: "Isn't there a lot of people in the Great Song Dynasty, and there is no place to raise horses?" Why is there no one planting the good land in front of you? ”

Ximen Qing turned his head to look at Wu Haogu, and suddenly sneered: "Da Lang, you really only learn Gongbi painting, and you don't hear the water of the Yellow River in your ears." ”

"Yellow River water?"

"Teacher, since the Renzong Dynasty, the Yellow River has been flooded continuously, the first year of Jiayou, the second year of Xining, the fourth year of Xining, the seventh year of Xining, the fourth year of Yuanfeng, and the eighth year of Yuanyou have all occurred major breaches, and the big river has been diverted, washing away countless villages and towns.

Among them, the flood in the seventh year of Xining was particularly severe, and the Yellow River seized the Huai into the sea, almost destroying the city of Xuzhou! ”

"Oh, I remember, Su Dongpo was in Xuzhou as a governor that year." Wu Haogu remembered a little.

He muttered: "I didn't expect the Yellow River to come to this point, fortunately it was in our dynasty, if it was the Han and Tang Dynasties, I was afraid that it would cause a big change." ”

"Haha," Ma Zhi laughed, "If it is in the Han and Tang Dynasties, how can there be so many breaks?" ”

"How?" Wu Haogu asked.

Mi Youren Ai Ai said: "Actually, in fact, most of the floods in the Yellow River are man-made disasters!" ”

"Man-made disaster?" Wu Haogu asked, "Could it be that the magistrate is corrupt and does not have a good student to build the river embankment?" ”

"If that were the case, there wouldn't have been so many breaches and diversions." Ma Zhi said, "The sediment of the big river is silted up, the river channel is raised, and it cannot flow for a long time, and the diversion is inevitable." It's just that it's changed ways a few times in a few decades, hehe......"

The lower reaches of the Yellow River were hanging rivers on the ground in the Song Dynasty, and if the Song Dynasty had the engineering ability of later generations, it would not be impossible to maintain the hanging river.

But in those years, there were no steam engines, they were all carried by shoulders, and the number of laborers was not too much, how could it be possible to maintain the hanging river?

So it's normal to be rerouted...... However, it has changed ways several times in a few decades, and the floods have been flooding for many years, so it is not normal.

"How so?" Wu Haogu asked.

"Because, because," Mi Youren hesitated and refused to continue.

"It's because the Yellow River flows north." Ximen Qing replied on his behalf, "The Yellow River itself will go north and flow into the territory of Liao. ”

The Yellow River flows north?

Wu Haogu thought about it and finally remembered it.

It seems that the Yellow River was diverted during the reign of Zhenzong, causing a number of small and medium-scale floods, but it was not a major problem for the Song Dynasty's disaster relief capacity. However, this diversion led to a sensational argument: the Yellow River may flow north into Liao, and the Liao soldiers will go down the river to Kaifeng!

It's horrible! The Khitan soldiers flew down the Yellow River, and the Great Song Dynasty was about to die.

By the time of the Renzong Dynasty, Emperor Renzong and the princes in the dynasty finally could not bear the possibility of the Yellow River continuing to divert to the north. So he wanted people to win the sky and let the Yellow River flow eastward at all costs.

As a result, the Yellow River eastward flow project was immediately affected by floods, and finally a big breach occurred in the first year of Jiayou, after which the Yellow River was divided into two in the territory of Kaide Province, all the way to the east and all the way to the north.

But that's not all!

During the Xining period when Wang Anshi was in power, under the leadership of Wang Anshi, the Great Song Dynasty court continued to toss the Yellow River, blocking one of the northern flows of the "two Yellow Rivers". As a result, Xining broke down twice in two years and four years.

Then there was no way, Wang Anshi decided to restore the original state of the Ergu River, it seems that someone has invented a silt removal thing called what iron dragon claw is, to prevent the siltation of the river sand, but it is definitely useless. It didn't take long for Song Ting to brainstorm again, and he started a big project to block the Yellow River flowing north, wanting to return the Yellow River to its original course, and then use the iron dragon claw to dredge the river.

As a result, Xining broke again in seven years, and there was a big fuss, and the Yellow River seized Huai into the sea, flooded 45 counties, and washed away 300,000 acres of land!

In the Yuanfeng period, the Great Song Dynasty still believed that man would win the day, and continued to toss the river, but continued to break down, making Song Shenzong discouraged and giving up the great cause of governing the river.

However, in the Yuanyou period, the Song Dynasty began to toss again, and continued to use water conservancy projects to force the Yellow River to flow eastward.

Needless to say, in the eighth year of Yuan You, the Yellow River burst its embankment in the north, and it was another big flood. However, the Song Dynasty decided to block the Beiliu River and force the Yellow River to flow eastward. In the ninth year of the reign of Yuan You, that is, four years earlier, the Yellow River was again diverted and again went all the way north, flowing into the Song Liaojie River (later the Haihe River).

Ma Zhi looked at the barren scenery in front of him, and couldn't help but sigh with emotion: "Decades of floods and man-made disasters are all caused by fear of Liao, but what is there to be afraid of in this Liao country?" Are they as brave as they were a hundred years ago? In fact, the Liao State could go south along the river, so why couldn't the Great Song Dynasty go north along the Yellow River?

If the army enters the army when the water is abundant, hundreds of thousands of troops can go north by boat, and the military rations and baggage can also be transported by water, I don't know how much effort can be saved? Moreover, in the north of the boundary river, there are many large rivers where boats can be sailed. Now the people who need to worry about the northern flow of the Yellow River are actually the Khitans! ”

Wu Haogu was silent!

In fact, since the rebirth of the soul piercing, Wu Haogu has found more than once that the Song people's fear of the northern Liao State has entered the bone marrow.

And this kind of fear is actually a kind of hatred, a kind of anxiety that is difficult to sleep on.

To completely cure this fear and anxiety, it is not possible to toss the Yellow River again and again, only to restore Yan and destroy Liao!

If the Khitan was strong, the Song Dynasty could only toss the Yellow River, wasted countless money, and drowned many innocent people.

But the Khitan was weakened, and the Northern Expedition to Yanyun and the restoration of the homeland of the Han family may be the will of the Great Song Dynasty.

And the will of this country, can Wu Haogu change it alone?

"I'm afraid that a thief will be wiped out, and a thief will rise again. And the new thief is especially strong against the old thief......"

Wu Haogu sat on his horse and raised his eyes to look out to the north in the distance......

Now it's just that Hebei is tired, and the rest of the entire Great Song Dynasty is still good. But once the Northern Dynasties achieved the replacement of the old and the new, the new barbaric regime was completely unable to resist the decaying and comfortable Great Song Dynasty.

At that time, the Chinese civilization will enter a period of great regression.

And I and Pan Qiaolian, I don't know where they will be?

Thinking of this, Wu Haogu exhaled a mouthful of turbid breath vigorously.

He clamped his legs and urged the horse to take two steps, "Second Brother Ma, Brother Xiaoyi, it's not early, in this wilderness, it's better to be faster, so as not to sleep in the wilderness after dark, if you encounter thieves again, it will be bad." ”

"Well, the front is the Cangzhou boundary." Ximenqing said, "On the bank of the Yellow River, there is a big Zhuangzi, which is the property of my family's family and the firewood worker. Tonight, you can spend the night at Chai's house. ”