There was a report in Zhao Bing's previous life that the South-to-North Water Diversion Project was opened in the Song Dynasty, which was the earliest attempt of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project in my country, and it also provided extremely valuable experience reference for the current South-to-North Water Diversion Project. After investigation, relevant experts finally determined the South-to-North Water Diversion Project. The direction of this section is basically the same as the direction of the canal excavated in the Song Dynasty, and the two are only a hundred meters apart. At this time, he remembered the past and thought that this line might be available, so he asked.

"I know about this, but the Xianghan Cao Canal is not available..." Jiang Zongjie stepped forward and quickly found a map from a stack of maps, and pointed out the whole story, so that His Majesty could know the details.

It turned out that as early as after Zhao Kuangyin established his capital in Bianjing, he solved the problem of "broad military reserves and capitals" to solve the problem of food feeding between the army. He first dredged rivers, Cai River and other rivers, and regarded the water transport as the lifeline of the economy. At that time, the Bian River was the main inland waterway connecting the Yellow River, Huai River and the Yangtze River, but it could only solve the transportation of grain and material in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The grain and food resources in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, the Han River and Xiang River areas had to detour the Jianghuai River and the canal to transfer to Kyoto, which was very inconvenient.

More than ten years later, Emperor Taizong succeeded to the throne and the grain transportation became even more tense. In the first month of the third year of the Taiping Xingguo, the transfer envoy of Xijing, Cheng Neng, wrote a letter, proposing to build a dam from the bottom of Nanyang to the mouth, intercept the Baihe River to divert water north, cross the Fangcheng Pass, pass through Shitang, Shahe, Caihe, and Sui River, and arrive at the capital Bianjing, and connect with the Xiangtan canal in the south to solve the urgent need for the southern grain and materials to transport the capital north.

Zhao Guangyi adopted Cheng Neng's suggestion and issued an edict to recruit 100,000 migrant workers and officers and soldiers. After more than a month of construction, he dredged the canal more than 100 miles. Through Bowang, Luoqu, and Shaozhe Mountain, he arrived at the Baligou in the east and west of Fangcheng County. However, at the Fangcheng Pass, the water could not reach the water due to the heightened terrain. It happened that heavy rainstorms occurred in the upper reaches of the Baihe River, mountain torrents broke out, and the stone dam was destroyed. The excavation of the canal stopped, causing the project to be abandoned halfway.

In the first year of Duangong, Zhao Guangyi decided to dig the Xianghan Caohe Canal again and lead the Baihe River to the north. The project consists of two parts. One part is to communicate the water access between the Han River and Ru River along the route that was first dug, and the other part is to dig the Jianghan Caohe River from Jingzhou to the Han River. The Caohe River generally starts from southwest of Jingmen to Jingzhou City, passes through Shayang, and enters the Han River into the Han River, but it is finally stranded due to the terrain being suspended.

So it is regrettable that due to the failure of the two excavations, this section of Xianghan Cao Canal from Baihe to Baligou became a "half-slap" project. After that, the entire line of the Grand Canal was completed, and the Xianghan Canal was abandoned soon. In other words, this route is not available at all, so that the navy can only go around the Yangtze River when participating in the war.

"Your Majesty, my subordinates thought they could take a detour to Baishui. Although the distance was a little further, it was more than 60% shorter than the voyage into the river." Seeing the little emperor's face full of disappointment, Jiang Zongjie reported again.

"Oh, I know that you and Jiang Zhishuai have a deep brotherly relationship, but you should not depose your public for personal gain!" Zhao Bing said after listening to it, he frowned. The Xianghan Cao Canal is no longer aware of it, but he was also concerned. If it can be successfully dug, it will definitely be a project that will be praised by future generations. However, we can only wait for the recovery of the Central Plains in the future and discuss it again.

"Your Majesty, how dare I speak nonsense? Your Majesty, please see that we can first go along the canal from Xuzhou to the Huaihe River, then go upstream to the Rushui River, and then enter the Weishui River after passing Ruyang. After reaching Qinyang, turn to the Qinhe River, and go downstream to Xiangyang." Jiang Zongjie drew a route on the map.

"The chief of Jiang, as far as I know, there are many sediment deposits in the lower reaches of Qin River, which also hinders shipping, and it may be difficult for naval ships to pass!" Ma Duan said in a statement.

"What you know is obtained from books, and I not only served in the imperial front office, but also served as the Fangsi Department of War, in charge of the world's map and the geography of rivers and rivers." Jiang Zongjie said with a teasing smile.

"There is less power for shipping on the north bank of the Han River. There are more and longer navigation rivers on the south bank. Most of the rivers travel in relatively low and gentle mountains. However, except for the Muma River and Yuehe Beach, there are still many dangerous river beaches. The load load of the ships is small and the navigation is very difficult, but they can also be navigated. There are many navigation tributaries in the middle stream, mainly including Tangbai River, Beihe, Nanhe, Manhe, Lihe, Fengle River, Zihe, Qinhe, etc. Among them, Tangbai River has the longest route, and Beihe, Lihe, Fengle River and Zihe routes are very short."

"Before our army entered Huaihe, we had already sent people to find out the geography, draw maps, and investigate the river water conditions. As mentioned in the winter and spring, large ships were difficult to travel due to silt and sand accumulation. However, after summer, the rainfall increased, and floods in the Yangtze River and Han River would flow backwards to the tributaries, which often increased the water level downstream, widened the water surface, and lasted for a long time, so large ships could be passed through in summer."

"Well, it's great. So we will divide the troops into two groups and go by land on the western front. I will go by land." Zhao Bing said with great relief.

"Your Majesty, it's safer to go on the water and save some effort. Let's take a boat to go!" Ni Liang said after hearing this.

"It's not going well!" Zhao Bing snorted coldly.

"Du Zheng, Your Majesty is going to Yingtian Prefecture to worship the temple, why don't we go to the water route?" Jiang Zongjie whispered.

"Hmph, I want to accompany Your Majesty to worship the temple!" Ni Liang squinted and snorted.

"Prepare today and set off tomorrow!" Zhao Bing ignored them and winked, setting the time.

A sentence above, he ran off his legs. Zhao Bing no longer had to worry about these trivial matters, but the people below dared not be negligent. He had to march thousands of miles to Xiangyang. They not only had to consider the safety of the way, but also the food and drink, where to camp and where to supply supplies. At the same time, they had to arrange for troops along the way to take action, clear out bandits from the places they passed, expel enemy rangers, send alerts in dangerous places, etc.

Wang De also sent a group of small yellow gates to the group, and he did more things. This time he went to Yingtian Prefecture to worship the temple, and he could not be as low-key as usual, and he had to line up the ceremonial guards to show his imperial power. He had to communicate with the ritual escorts in advance, and coaxed His Majesty to cooperate with the drill. Then he had to leap forward thousands of miles to Xiangyang. Wang De needed to think of the items the emperor needed on the way and prepare them in Xuzhou in advance...

The next day, the emperor left Xuzhou. Wang Yinglin, as a minister of the escort, followed His Majesty to Yingtian Prefecture. In addition to the guard camp, the personal guard regiment, the baggage brigade, the first brigade and the cavalry brigade led by the commander of the imperial guard Ni Liang. The imperial guards set sail last night, headed south along the canal to Shanyang to replenish supplies and then went directly to Xiangyang. Duke Zhuang was appointed as the prefect of Xuzhou, and the commander of the Second Army Liu Zhixue was appointed as the governor of Huaibei to preside over the military. The other three brigades of the imperial guards stayed in Suzhou for rest and rest, supplemented new recruits, and assisted the local government in forming the prefecture army.

The driving team had 20,000 people, winding for several miles, with drums and trumpets echoing each other in front and back. It was just like a carriage, horses were sluggish, flags were like forests, and the lineup was spectacular. Zhao Bing's carriage was driving in the middle of the team, with cavalry brigades leading the way in front, and guards on the left and right. The core area was guarded by the guard camp, and the first brigade guarded the baggage and broke the back, protecting him tightly like stars holding the moon.

The marching speed was very fast, not only because the war ended soon, and there were frequent conflicts around the surrounding area, resulting in fewer travel on the road. It was also because of the victory of the war, a large number of war horses were seized, which made the imperial guards become mules and horses. There was no need to say anything about the cavalry. One person and two cavalry were already standard, and the infantry also got enough horses to marches in a car, which increased the marching speed.

Although each unit was equipped with horses, the war horses equipped by the guard camp and the guard regiment still made others jealous. They were not ordinary Mongolian horses, but tall "weather horses". Of course, these war horses were not from Zhao Bing's royal ocean-going caravans through trade exchanges, but also from seizures, or rather from the personal guard of the Mongolian Khan, the Qinxue Army.

Mongolian expeditions in the west obtained many excellent riding horses from Central Asia and West Asia. As the most important minions of the Khans, the war horses riding by the Qiexue army naturally replaced cannons. However, these good horses were hard-won. The children of civilians could also spend money on their own spoils. Those rich children needed their noble fathers to spend money to buy them. If the money was not enough, they could collect special taxes from the households under their jurisdiction.

At first, because these horses were hard-won, the soldiers of the Qiexue army were very caring and willing to work hard to train themselves. As the Mongolian army increased the spoils, the Khans became more and more generous. The Qiexue army was divided into a large amount of arable land and escorts, and they handed over the horse feeding work to others. In the Kublai Khan era, the Yuan Dynasty established a huge herd prison in the model of the Central Plains dynasty, and stocked excellent riding horses collected from the entire Eurasian continent.

With the emergence of corruption, the horse-raising talents of the Qyxue gradually deteriorated. Although they still held the titles of Aheetachi and Abewuchi, the specific work was also handed over to third-class slaves such as the Han people. They only received the forage from the Yuan government, but the horse-raising work was handed over to the herdsmen in the herdsmen. During this Northern Expedition of the Song Dynasty, the horse farms set up in the Lianghuai and Huaibei areas were lost, and the war horses fell into Zhao Bing's hands, and he naturally selected a group of personal guards who first armed him.

"What a good horse!" As the most advanced means of transportation in this era, Zhao Bing naturally chose a few horses for him to ride, but for his safety, he was forbidden in disguise. If he could ride a car or a boat, he would never be allowed to abandon his horse. At this moment, he could only ride a car, so he could only look at the tall horses and be jealous.

"Your Majesty, I discovered an interesting thing when I was cleaning up the household registration in the newly harvested place!" Wang Yinglin, who accompanied the emperor, walked in the same car with His Majesty. When he saw the little emperor's eyes glowing green when he saw the war horses, he knew his thoughts and quickly found a topic to divert it to attract his attention.

"Oh, what's the funny thing?" Zhao Bing was indeed trapped and asked with interest.
Chapter completed!