Xiyang, the General Administration Office, will serve as the chief supervisor Yuwen Kai, and several officials from the Dong official office, are currently surrounding a large sand table, holding a thick stack of information in their hands, listening to the introduction of the General Administration Chief Hao Wu Bo.

What Hao Wubo wants to introduce is a water conservancy project called "Yewan Caoku".

Ye Wandao is an important road connecting Jingzhou and the Central Plains. It has existed since the Spring and Autumn Period and was an important channel for Chu to attack the Central Plains. For thousands of years, the status of Ye Wandao has irreplaced and is unique.

This road has always been by land, so it is difficult to continue to improve after the transportation capacity reaches a certain level, because if you want to increase the transportation capacity of land transportation, you have to increase the pack horses and green strong, and pack horses and green strong need to consume a lot of food and grass.

The significant increase in pack horses and labor will not be worth the cost when it reaches a certain level, because this will greatly increase the transportation cost, and an extremely absurd phenomenon occurs: in order to transport a hu of grain to the destination, seven to eight hu of grain must be consumed.

Such high-cost transportation costs cannot be maintained for a long time even if the court's financial resources are strong.

The reason for this problem is the consumption of land transportation, which is related to the movement speed. Generally speaking, when a large team travels (a large number of hiking personnel), the movement is thirty to forty miles a day, and the movement speed of the grain transport team is not much higher.

It is the speed bottleneck of land transportation that leads to rising costs.

The pack horses and young and strong who participated in the transportation consumed an extra day of food and grass on the road. The cargo weight of each carriage was limited, which restricted the efficiency of land transportation.

Therefore, canal transportation is an ideal way to transport bulk goods. The transportation capacity of canal transportation is stronger than land transportation. A canal ship can carry a cargo of thousands of hu. However, the boatman and boatman need fewer than the carriage convoy with the same cargo capacity, and the food and grass consumption is smaller.

This is also the reason why dynasties have been working hard to dig canals and canals since ancient times. There are rivers at both sides of Yewandao. If you can communicate with the east and west water system, with the main water transportation and land transportation as the auxiliary, then you can greatly enhance Yewandao's transportation capacity.

But the ancients were not fools. If such an idea could be realized, the Chu State, which was intended to fight for the Central Plains, would have built such a canal. However, thousands of years have passed, the Yewan canal still did not appear. What is the reason?

The reason is very simple, the terrain.

There is an important place in the middle of Yewandao. Its terrain is high and shaped like a threshold, which separates the connection between the water systems at the east and west ends. This threshold is Fangcheng Pass.

The area where Fangcheng is located has a narrow terrain, so it has been a place that military strategists have fought for since ancient times. The terrain here is high, so high that it cannot lead water across the east and west. Therefore, for thousands of years, any idea of ​​digging the Yewan Cao Canal will be dead when it has the idea.

Water flows to a low place, which is common sense. The height difference between the local ups and downs is too large. The canals and canals will become trenches because there is no water. Yuwen Kai knows this, so he will not have any unrealistic dreams for the Yewan canal.

But now it's different because of a steam pump.

With a steam pump, the water at low places can be raised to high places through step-by-step upgrades. Then the new canal composed of multi-level canals and ship locks can cross the Fangcheng Pass and successfully realize the canal transportation on Yewan Road.

The disadvantage of steam pumps is that they consume a huge amount of coal. If steam pumps are used on a large scale far away from the coal-producing site, no one can afford the high cost. However, a large coal mine has been found near Yecheng at the eastern end of Yewandao and trial mining has been carried out. This problem is not a problem.

It is precisely for this reason that King Bin drew capable officials from the Huangzhou General Administration and re-surveyed and mapped the terrain along Yewandao to prepare for the Yewan Caokura that might start construction.

The Bashuiyan Bar in Huangzhou has accumulated valuable operating experience for steam pumps to be used on multi-level ship locks. The trial operation report compiled based on these experiences can give people an intuitive understanding of the feasibility of Yewan Cao Canal.

Yuwen Kai and several colleagues were shocked by this unprecedented new canal. They were extremely excited to see the model of Yewan canal on the sand table and the description of the terrain along Yewandao on the information.

They were able to obtain these information because King Bin was about to propose a plan to build the "Yewan Cao Canal" to the Prime Minister. Because it was of great importance, it was necessary to have the ability of the government to control the water.

In other words, it is a group of people to make the idea of ​​the solution finally become a reality.

The construction of such a canal involves a wide range of investment and huge investment, which may require a large number of people to serve labor, so no mistakes are allowed. It is necessary to ensure that the construction is successful, and it is also necessary to ensure that the canal canal can be operated for a long time after it is completed.

To this end, "experts" such as Yuwen Kai need to participate in the discussion, do their homework in advance, and only after everything is ready can construction start.

Considering that the people were exhausted after years of war, the planned canal may not start to be dug immediately. During this period, it is enough for everyone to carefully investigate the actual terrain of Ye Wandao to formulate the best construction plan.

Uncle Hao Wu looked at several officials who were fascinated by reading the information and breathed a sigh of relief. It was already difficult for him to supervise the construction of the Huanghuang Railway. If he really wanted to build the Yewan Cao Canal in the future, it would be better to let others take responsibility.

As he thought about it, Hao Wu Bo was a little helpless. The emergence of steam pumps led to new tricks in water conservancy facilities. Many dry lands that were originally impossible to be irrigated now have the possibility of irrigation.

With water, the harvest is guaranteed, so King Bin, who has always been obsessed with increasing production and income, is afraid that he will build a big project for this again.

But on the other hand, on the premise that the supply of coal is guaranteed, if reliable water conservancy facilities can be carefully planned and built so that more fields can be irrigated, it is a great thing for the people of the world.

When Uncle Hao Wu thought of this, his thoughts suddenly flew to the other side, that is, why did King Bi plan to build the Yewan Cao Canal?

The Jingxiang land produces a large amount of grain. If it is to be transported from abroad, it is usually imported into Chang'an to the northwest through Wuguan Road. In this way, Yewandao's land transportation capacity does not need to be greatly enhanced, at least there is no urgent need.

If the capital of the dynasty was set in Luoyang, it would be necessary to build the Yewan Cao Canal. At that time, the grain from Jingxiang canal can be continuously imported into Luoyang through the Yewan Cao Canal.

But Luoyang is not a capital city, and Chang'an actually only needs to enter Guandong grains through Luoyang. If the grains from Jingxiang are detoured by Luoyang and imported into Guanzhong, it will be too troublesome.

Therefore, Hao Wu Bo did not understand why King Bin planned to build the Yewan Cao Canal.
Chapter completed!