Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

Ye Zongxing was stunned for a moment when he saw this, and then turned his back, as if he didn't want to meet Jiang Xinghuo in this posture.

Scholars also have a reputation. Ye Zongxing followed the team of civilians from Huating County here, of course, not for the dozens of wages per day and the delicious fat, but because he was afraid that Jiang Xinghuo and his party did not understand water conservancy and would give random directions and dig up weirs. The lake caused catastrophe.

Ye Zongxing, a man of chivalrous spirit and courage, naturally wanted to follow him to see if he could do his little bit to make amends in terms of water conservancy.

But now he looked at the breakwaters on both sides of the bank, which were built by Jiang Xinghuo who coordinated resources, Song Li drew the drawings, and Chief Sun was responsible for the command. They had both horizontal remote embankments, moon embankments, and vertical grid embankments. After setting up a complete system, it is obvious that he is a little unfounded.

In addition, he had some social fears, so after his identity was revealed, he acted like an ostrich.

However, Jiang Xinghuo was quite impressed by Ye Zongxing. He pulled him up and said, "Later, I heard from Magistrate Huang that you are a famous water conservancy talent in Songjiang Prefecture. However, he did not say that it was me who handled everything that day. good."

Seeing the Imperial Master treating the virtuous corporal so generously and sincerely, Ye Zongxing's dark face turned a little red, and he repeatedly cupped his hands and said, "I was anxious, but after thinking about it, it was really a bit reckless."

Jiang Xinghuo did not dwell on what happened before, but instead asked: "So, do you think there is any problem with the current river embankment? I heard that you have traveled through dozens of tributaries of the Taihu Lake Basin, and you have quite a lot of experience in field inspections. You might as well make suggestions.”

Ye Zongxing stood on the river embankment and thought for a moment. He was really thinking silently. It was obvious that this person was too late to speak, and Jiang Xinghuo did not rush him. He, Song Li, Zheng He and others just waited for him to think.

After a while, Ye Zongxing went over all the water conservancy matters in his mind, and then he said: "The adults in Dushui Qingli Department are all experienced river workers, and the craftsmen are also very skilled. The river embankments are well built. Yes, there are definitely no big problems, but there are indeed some small ones.”

"oh?"

Sun Kun, the head of the River Control Section of the Department of Water Purification and Civil Affairs of the Ministry of Industry, raised his eyebrows with some disdain.

In Sun Kun's opinion, this country scholar had read some books and walked some roads, and he did know something about water conservancy, but after all, he had no experience in managing water conservancy projects and could only rely on paper talk. Wouldn't that make him Li Jinglong?

——————

"Aqiu!"

At the foot of Mount Fuji, the pink and white cherry blossoms were blooming beautifully, and Li Jinglong sneezed hard.

"What's wrong, General?"

The former 'King of Kyushu' Imagawa Ryojun was dressed as a samurai and accompanied Li Jinglong to enjoy the flowers with a samurai sword.

Li Jinglong said deeply: "It's nothing, maybe the fragrance of the flowers is a bit pungent, or maybe it reminds me of an old friend."

"oh?"

The young and vigorous Imakawa Ryojun straightened his back and said in proficient Chinese:

"The old friend that the general can think of at this time is probably also a great figure in the Ming Dynasty."

"It's truly remarkable. This man has a talent that can be measured in the world. In terms of wisdom alone, even I am slightly inferior."

Li Jinglong thought of his mentor who gave lectures in prison. Although there were some mistakes during his trip to Japan, in general, they were basically in line with Jiang Xinghuo's judgment.

In the past few months in Japan, Li Jinglong has basically understood the situation in this country, including the complicated relationship between Japan's domestic political factions and local vassals. The deposed 'King of Kyushu' beside him is an ambitious opposition figure. Character. But if I come here next time, I think I will lead an army of 100,000 and march across the sea to conquer the sun.

"Could it be a character like 'Wolong' in "Heroes of the Three Kingdoms"? Can he control the wind and rain?"

Hearing this, Imagawa Ryojun immediately became interested.

In his understanding of China, the wisest figure is undoubtedly Zhuge Kongming.

"Of course it will."

Li Jinglong smiled and took out a piece of paper from his sleeve that he had read many times recently. It was a letter sent to him by Cao Guogong's family. Among them, it was mentioned that Jiang Xinghuo had been released from prison. Although there was no formal ceremony to be worshiped as a national master by Emperor Yongle, he had broken Jing Qing's blood oath by praying for rain, which greatly reversed the unfavorable public opinion. At the same time, he also briefly Mentioning Jiang Xinghuo’s innovation in Neo-Confucianism, there are already quite a few scholars in Nanjing who spontaneously respect Jiang Xinghuo as their teacher and study this theory of studying things to achieve knowledge, which is different from scholars who adhere to the traditional Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism. Increasingly fierce quarrels have occurred. In short, with the small victory at the ideological level, the number of supporters of the reform is rapidly increasing.

"This national master named Jiang Xinghuo not only has the ability to control wind and rain, but he is also a master of Sinology?"

After reading the letter, Imakawa Ryojun said with some leisurely charm: "I wish I could meet the peerless elegance of this Imperial Master in person."

"There's a chance."

Li Jinglong hugged the geisha in pink kimono who followed him with small steps and said with a smile: "I will return to China next month. When Imagawa-kun was in the confrontation between North and South Korea, he was responsible for Japan's diplomacy towards North Korea, Ryukyu and the Ming Dynasty all year round. Now, why don’t you go back to the Ming Dynasty with our mission to see it with your own eyes? By the way, you can also meet with me, the Great Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.”

Of course Imagawa Ryotoshi wanted to meet Yan King Zhu Di, who was known as the "Peerless Military God" in Japan, and besides that, he had even greater ambitions.

Imagawa Ryojun was very moved. After shooing away the geishas and samurai on both sides, he asked in a low voice: "What about the general's promise to me?"

Li Jinglong firmly held the other party's hand that was full of calluses and scars, and said sincerely: "Da Ming will not treat every friend badly!"

Imakawa Ryojun breathed a sigh of relief and said.

"I will report to the owner of the Luyuan Courtyard. He is old and is much less wary of me than in the past. He may be able to agree. In addition, Prince Yasuko may also go with him."

When Li Jinglong heard this, a glint flashed in his eyes. He had already heard about Annan. Just like Annan's grandson Chen Tianping, if the Ming Dynasty held a de jure heir to the Japanese Emperor's throne, this would be the best way to start a war. Excuse.

"Then what is the Imperial Master doing now?" Imagawa Ryojun suddenly asked.

——————

The Imperial Master is having a headache.

In the verbal exchange with Ye Zongxing just now, Sun Kun was quickly defeated. The reason was very simple, nothing more than four words: adapt measures to local conditions.

The River Control Section of the Metropolitan Water Resources and Cleansing Department of the Ministry of Industry certainly has experience in how to build embankments and how to control the direction of flood discharge.

However, most of this experience is one-size-fits-all. It is a set of relatively common methods that have been summed up by officials from the Ministry of Industry of all generations.

But just as there are no two identical leaves in the world, different water and soil conditions also mean that the construction of water conservancy projects in different regions must be different.

Ye Zongxing's advantage is that he not only understands water conservancy, but also has a deep understanding of various rivers in the south of the Yangtze River, and even the hydrology and soil conditions of a specific bend.

Therefore, in view of the soft soil in the south of the Yangtze River and the accumulation of silt and hidden pits at the bottom of the river, Ye Zongxing put forward several suggestions for improving the construction of river embankments, and they were quite pertinent.

It's not like there weren't people who knew about water conservancy at the scene. Song Shilang was watching from the side. Naturally, Sun Kun didn't dare to hold his neck and say that what others said was wrong, so he could only record Ye Zongxing's opinion.

"But there is only one thing. After thinking about it, I always feel that I have trouble sleeping and eating."

Ye Zongxing was silent for a moment and elaborated: "I always feel that using gunpowder to blow up a barrier lake is the first time in the history of water conservancy. How to control the direction of the collapse and the amount of gunpowder? The structure of the barrier lake is so complex and fragile. If you are not careful, even if there are dams on both sides of the bank, the height of the dams on both sides is limited after all. If the flood volume is too large and the dams are directly washed away, it will be an unbearable thing. Even the national division may not be able to bear such a responsibility. Bar?"

"Presumptuous!" Huang Ziwei couldn't help but scolded half in feigned anger and half in a protective manner.

"Let him speak." Jiang Xinghuo stopped Magistrate Huang.

Ye Zongxing said sincerely: "When I first heard about the gunpowder explosion in the lake, I was really excited. But these past few days, I am really scared. I can even dream about it. The people in Hecheng were washed away by the flood. The Imperial Master thought It’s true to save the people who were kidnapped by the White Lotus Sect rebels, but this also cost more than 100,000 lives!”

"I know what you mean."

Jiang Xinghuo looked at the dark and thin scholar and said, "You just think that it is not safe to explode the embankment of a barrier lake with gunpowder. Even the people in the county are not necessarily safe."

"Yes!" Ye Zongxing nodded vigorously.

Following Ye Zongxing's nod, even the surrounding officials and craftsmen from the Ministry of Works unconsciously looked here.

——They are also waiting for an answer.

It’s not that no one doubted the feasibility of the Imperial Preceptor’s move in their hearts. It’s just that after the Imperial Preceptor prayed for rain, his prestige grew, and he killed a lot of people in Changzhou Prefecture, so everyone just followed suit for a few days.

In fact, the most common horizontal and vertical grid methods are used, that is, remote embankments (long embankments), moon embankments (half-moon-shaped embankments), and grid embankments (vertical short embankments) to complete the long embankments on both sides from Dahuangpu to Shanghai Pu. There are some missing areas.

But it is unknown whether filling these leaks can stop the flood after the barrier lake explodes, how powerful the flood will be, and whether the direction of the flood discharge can be controlled.

In other words, in the entire large engineering team, except for the National Engineer who is quite confident, everyone else is uneasy.

After all, in the past, lake digging was basically done manually. Even if someone used gunpowder to help, no one had used gunpowder on this scale.

This is the gunpowder inventory of half the capital of the Ming Empire!

Even though the use and reserves of gunpowder in the early Ming Dynasty were not as good as those in the late Ming Dynasty, just thinking about Jiang Xinghuo's previous life in the late Ming Dynasty's Apocalypse explosion, which almost razed the capital to the ground, you can know how shocking the power of this thing is when detonated!

No one has really used this amount of gunpowder, let alone used it to blow up a barrier lake.

Therefore, Ye Zongxing's questions are actually questions of all his own "own people".

At this time, even Sun Kun looked at Jiang Xinghuo.

Even military students such as Zhang Anshi, Xu Jingchang, and Zhu Yong, who did not know much about water conservancy, felt the solemn atmosphere in the air at this time, and knew that this was an extremely critical question, and everyone was waiting for Principal Jiang's answer.

"There will be no problem with the direction of the blast."

Jiang Xinghuo knew that since Ye Zongxing had asked, if these people who were actually responsible for the implementation of the water conservancy project were not given a convincing answer today, the morale of the entire construction team would be seriously shaken.

Jiang Xinghuo took out an oilcloth bag from his sleeve, which contained a dense stack of drawings.

In Jiang Xinghuo's sixth life, he worked as a chemical factory owner for a long time, and also delivered a large amount of explosives and other chemicals to the resistance organization. In the end, he ignited the explosives in the factory inventory and died with the invaders.

Therefore, Jiang Xinghuo knows very well how to play with gunpowder and how to explode.

Next to it was the awning. Jiang Xinghuo led everyone in, spread the drawings on a clean table, and asked Zhang Anshi and others with a hint of taking a test.

"Have you read the book I left for General Liu?"

"Report to the principal, read it!"

Jiang Xinghuo pointed to the function curve on the drawing and asked, "Can you understand this thing?"

Zhang Anshi, Xu Jingchang and Zhu Yong came together to take a look.

"Huh?"

Xu Jingchang said uncertainly: "This looks very much like the ballistic function of artillery?"

"It's just one thing. It's much simpler than the ballistic function of artillery. I haven't given a lecture in a long time. I've been too busy recently. When the Jiangnan flood control is completed, I will go back to the military academy to explain it to you in detail. I think the Imperial College has accumulated a lot of questions."

He casually mentioned his old skills. This is of course a matter for the future. There are a lot of messy things waiting for him to deal with right now. Ideological enlightenment and the promotion of advanced scientific theories can only be discussed after finishing this trip to Jiangnan. .

The most important thing right now is the matter of gunpowder blowing up the lake.

Jiang Xinghuo returned to Ye Zongxing, Sun Kun, and Huang Ziwei and explained: "There are two key points in using gunpowder to blow up the barrier lake. The first is the specific geological survey of the barrier lake. This is the responsibility of Song Li Song. , he is more experienced; the second one is the calculation method of directional blasting, that is, the ballistic method, which I calculated by myself."

Ye Zongxing's eyes lit up, as if a whole new world appeared in front of him.

And all he needs to do is open a door, and he can achieve a brand new breakthrough in the water conservancy profession that no one has ever achieved before!

"What is directional blasting? What is ballistic method?" Ye Zongxing asked quickly, and Sun Kun was also very curious.

Jiang Xinghuo said patiently: "Directional blasting is a blasting technology that uses the effect of gunpowder explosion to throw earth and rocks from a certain area to a designated area and roughly pile them into the required shape. Of course, a single gunpowder pack is definitely not enough. Generally, multiple powder packets need to be equidistantly distributed and symmetrical to blast together. In this way, a powder distribution surface can be formed by connecting the centers of each powder packet."

As he said that, Jiang Xinghuo pulled out a drawing, which showed the detailed height, width, soil hardness, and distribution curve of the entire barrier lake embankment. On the curve, densely packed equal blasting points were drawn. These points were all The force analysis is performed, and the dotted line indicates the throwing direction of the earth.

"This knowledge of gunpowder blasting is the basis for the Imperial Master to be so confident?"

Even an old river worker like Sun Kun couldn't help but lose his voice for a moment. He had been working in water conservancy and river control for so many years, and he had never seen or even heard of this technology!

Moreover, judging from the drawings of the Imperial Master, this is not some incomprehensible magic. On the contrary, it is a knowledge that normal people can master through hard study and practice.

Sun Kun couldn't help but think that if the knowledge of gunpowder blasting could be popularized in the Ministry of Industry, perhaps many things that originally seemed extremely difficult to accomplish would become extremely simple.

Ye Zongxing was also fascinated by it. Just a few pieces of paper filled with drawings and lines made him feel like he had found a treasure, and he almost couldn't help but want to reach out and touch it.

Huang Ziwei, the Songjiang prefect, had always been worried about the people of the county. Now looking at this carefully calculated drawing, he put it back and put it away. No matter what happened, Huang Ziwei's character was still questionable. .

From the very beginning in Huating County, when Huang Ziwei heard the news that the Imperial Preceptor decided to use gunpowder to blow up the lake, he felt that it was unrealistic. But now, he finally understood that the Imperial Preceptor really did not fight unprepared battles. There is really too much knowledge in the teacher's belly that can be applied in the world.

Compared with the knowledge of the National Preceptor, these people are like children who are still proud of having picked up a shell, and the National Preceptor is the sea.

In fact, what Huang Ziwei also admires is that even in the face of such an emergency of food shortage on the front line, the Imperial Guards only took a few days to deal with the local gentry in Songjiang Prefecture, forcing them to donate enough food, and established a good We have established grain transportation routes and promptly solved the problem of barrier lakes.

This made Huang Ziwei carefully look through the past public information of the imperial master, including the "Di Bao" issued by the imperial court, but he never read it.

The more he looked at it, the more Magistrate Huang felt that what he did was completely in line with the characteristics of grasping the main contradiction, grasping the main aspects of the contradiction, etc. It was the unity of knowledge and action to the extreme, and even everything he did was in line with the "Tao" "Illusion.

Jiang Xinghuo didn't know what these people were thinking, so he continued.

"The so-called ballistic method is to use mathematical equations to calculate the relationship between the throw distance of earth and rock and the amount of gunpowder consumed (that is, the amount of gunpowder used to throw a medium), and calculate the required throw distance for directional blasting projects. The amount of gunpowder consumed is then calculated based on the amount of earth and stone needed for the project to roughly determine the layout of the explosive packs. For example, barrier lake blasting is a deep hole blasting and requires a long throwing distance. With this The method couldn’t be more appropriate.”

The equations involved in the ballistic method are not complicated. The minimum resistance line length of the embankment area involved in each powder packet is the root calculation of the diameter of the powder packet multiplied by a fixed parameter.

The parameters of charging density, drilling depth, rock hardness, and explosive conversion coefficient are basically relatively fixed. As for the explosive conversion coefficient, rock explosive is 0.9. This is naturally the best choice. Unfortunately, it did not exist in the early Ming Dynasty, so we can only I made do with the large amount of black powder in stock.

The explosive conversion coefficient of black powder is 1.14-1.42, so under the same drilling depth and rock hardness conditions, the charge density and charge amount must be larger. However, as long as the previous parameters are calculated well, the original black powder can play a role The effect is the same.

Use an inappropriate metaphor to force big bricks to fly!

Ye Zongxing looked at these magical numbers, and became more and more fascinated. Suddenly, he bowed his head and begged.

"I would also like to ask the Imperial Master to teach me the knowledge of gunpowder blasting. I am willing to help the Imperial Master teach me the knowledge of gunpowder blasting, and I would like to repay the favor by leading my horse to the saddle, holding rings and knotting grass!"

Huang Ziwei was stunned. Ye Xiucai was famous for his stubbornness in Huating County. When had he seen him be so submissive to others?

What's more, it's still in water conservancy, which he is most proud of!

In normal times, no matter how big an official he was, Ye Zongxing would dare not give him face when he argued with Ye Zongxing about water conservancy matters!

Just when Huang Ziwei was stunned, Sun Kun was not willing to lag behind. He knelt down and said: "As a great plan, please grant this knowledge to the Ministry of Industry for use!"

Ye Zongxing secretly scolded this person for being shameless and hesitated for a few moments, but he still couldn't make up his mind whether he should imitate him.

However, just as the atmosphere in the canopy relaxed, and the officials knew that the imperial master was not messing around, but was confidently controlling the water, and the county would not be flooded, suddenly, there was a noise outside.

As a burst of gongs and drums sounded, thousands of people from the surrounding villages, guided by people wearing weird ghost makeup, gathered in groups carrying flags and carrying tributes. He walked out of the woods on both sides of the river, then forced his way through the scattered guards and walked into the muddy puddle under the river embankment.

"Uragami! Uragami!"

"The two gods don't meet each other!"

"Ura God appears!"

"Ura God bless you! Don't dig the lake!"

…

A series of shrill screams resounded in the open wilderness, invisibly bringing a sense of depression and despair to people. Along with the calls and prayers of the people, a few dark clouds gradually drifted from the horizon, covering the The sky was a little brighter.

"what happened?"

Seeing the scene in front of him, Jiang Xinghuo came out of the awning and stood at the height of the embankment with a deep frown on his face.

Song Li's face was also as gloomy as ink, and he reprimanded: "What do these soldiers who are responsible for guarding the river embankment do to eat? Why was such a large gathering of villagers not noticed? How could this group of people suddenly rush into the river embankment? What if? If the barrier lake collapses at this time, wouldn’t it cause a catastrophic disaster?”

Jiang Xinghuo raised his hand to stop Song Li and asked.

"Where is Liu Sheng?"

Xu Jingchang had just gone to check the situation. At this time, he hurried over and reported: "Principal, Liu Qianshi is gathering troops. The road is too bad and the cavalry can't get there for a while. The river embankments on both sides stretch for more than ten miles. These The people must have been secretly connected in advance, but suddenly a crowd came and the defense was really caught off guard."

Jiang Xinghuo was silent and was thinking of countermeasures quickly.

At this moment, Zhang Anshi twisted the whip in his hand and asked in a low voice.

"Are they offering sacrifices? But why do I hear prayers?"

"You know nothing!" Zhu Yong, who was younger than him, glared at him and then said, "Do you know what 'Ura God' is in their eyes?"

Zhang Anshi scratched his head and did not dare to say anything anymore.

Jiang Xinghuo looked at the people who were kneeling on the muddy ground, chanting prayers, but kept bending forward and kowtowing. He suddenly realized that he had made a mistake.

The time set aside for handling this emergency was too tight. In order to quickly solve the waterway problem, transport supplies to the front line, and then complete the task of rescuing more than 100,000 people.

In order to solve the problem as quickly as possible and eliminate the people's misunderstanding about the lake explosion, Jiang Xinghuo sent people to use Feng Shui pattern as a propaganda, and then brought the nature of this incident to the same level as the fanatical believers of this era. superior.

Because he was so eager to achieve success, he forgot the most important thing - for these ordinary people, what is the real God?

In the Ming Dynasty, at the beginning of the fifteenth century, the gods in the countryside did not need the faithful faith of believers, let alone protect them. Instead, there were only gods who were so powerful that they were feared, awe-inspiring, and could even be said to do all kinds of evil. This level of existence Only then can he be considered the real "God", otherwise everything is false.

The "Pu God" that the locals believe in, well, in layman's terms, can also be understood as the God of the Lake and the God of Bubbles. It is somewhat similar to the "He Bo" and is an out-and-out evil god.

The reason why people believe in and worship it is precisely because if they do not worship it, people believe that "Ura God" will bring disaster and cause flooding to flood their farmland.

There are different jurisdictions between "Ura God" and "Ura God". The two gods are not allowed to meet each other, otherwise disaster will occur.

But no matter what, the ignorant villagers will definitely not have such strong organizational power.

"There may be White Lotus Sect instigating this behind the scenes."

Jiang Xinghuo thought in his heart and slowly looked at the heads in the crowd.

His actions were only kept secret for the first few days. After arriving in Shanghai County, the matter of the gunpowder explosion of the lake could not be hidden at all, and he had no intention of hiding it. Therefore, it was almost natural for the local White Lotus Sect to know about it.

And what is the White Lotus Sect most afraid of?

Naturally, the White Lotus Sect rebels on the front line are in danger, but now the national advisor Jiang Xinghuo wants to immediately open up Dahuangpu and transport a large amount of grain raised from Huating County to the Three Lakes area through the Wusong River upstream!

"White Lotus Sect, are you scared?"

At this time, under the river embankment, in the muddy pool.

Thousands of people were prostrate on the ground, with their knees together and their heads buried in the mud.

Villagers from all the nearby villages gathered here. So many people gathered together and began to worship at Dahuangpu, hoping to be blessed by the Pu God and not to wash away their farmland and property.

Over the quagmire, there were dark clouds and thunder and lightning.

"Master, I don't feel at ease." A man dressed with a grimace said nervously: "I heard that this Imperial Master is not easy to mess with! What if..."

"What are you suspecting?"

The other person glared at him and snorted coldly: "Do you know that what we did today was for Maitreya to come to the world! Jiang Xinghuo's evil way goes against the will of heaven, and he will definitely be punished by heaven! This is the elder of the sect. What you said, how dare you question it now? Could it be that you are tired of living?"

"I...I don't dare!" The man with the grimace was so frightened that he quickly lowered his head, "Lord, calm down, I...I didn't mean it."

In the sky, the wind howled.

Rumble…

Lightning tore through the clouds, illuminating the dark sky as bright as day.

Crack... crackle...

Big raindrops struck the water, causing ripples one after another.

Liu Sheng's soldiers and horses have gathered together, their sharp steel swords unsheathed, and the soldiers are waiting for Jiang Xinghuo's orders.

Jiang Xinghuo, looking at the thousands of ignorant villagers who were being mobilized in front of him, said to the people around him.

"Repeat what I said loudly together later."

"yes!"

Wang Bin nodded and conveyed the order.

Jiang Xinghuo took a deep breath, and the cold rainwater poured into his mouth, but he didn't feel it at all.

The common people only saw a few figures standing on the embankment.

The leader was a man in a green shirt. He stood with his hands behind his back, looking down at them, as if waiting for something.

Suddenly, the sky and the earth changed color.

Darkness enveloped the entire land.

Violent thunder continued to explode.

Click... click...

Endless lightnings intertwined and illuminated half of the sky as bright as day, shocking everyone's hearts.

After the thunder, the sounds of the army suddenly echoed through the entire space.

At the same time, the people who were kneeling on the ground to pray raised their heads when they heard the sound.

"Stand up, don't kneel! There is no God of Ur in the world. If you are foolish to believe it, I, Jiang Xinghuo, will kill the god today for you to see!"

PS: [Important reminder (there is no charge for this content)] Chapters 316 to 356 are about the rectification of officialdom and the suppression of rebellions in Jiangnan. They do not contain any theoretical knowledge. They are all practical content. If you are not interested, you can jump directly to Chapter 366. "Class" will contain theoretical knowledge content from now on.