Chapter 34 5. Do everything by yourself, Jin Fu dedicated himself to water control

In the early Qing Dynasty, the Yellow River flooded and breached its embankments very frequently.During the Shunzhi period, there were 15 major breaches. From the first year of Kangxi to the 16th year, the Yellow River breached as many as 67 times. Farmers were in dire straits and were forced to leave their homes and homes. It is countless.Although the Qing Dynasty made remedies to a certain extent, the effect was not good.During the reign of Emperor Kangxi, the Qing Dynasty was in a politically stable period, and the court began to focus on the issue of water control, preparing to spend a lot of energy, materials, and manpower to completely solve the problem of the Yellow River.Since Kangxi succeeded to the throne, he regarded the peace of the San Francisco and the governance of the Yellow River as the two must-do things.He decided to send a capable person to control the water. After screening, Kangxi believed that Jin Fu, Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites, was the most suitable candidate.

After Jin Fu received the emperor's appointment, he was panicked at the beginning. No one among the court officials dared to accept this task.The former river governor was dismissed because of ineffective water control, and was almost beheaded.Water and fire are ruthless, how can it be so easy to control it.Later, he felt that he was too worried. The reason why the former governor of the river channel was ineffective in water control was mostly because he did not fully devote himself to water control. It can be said that he did not take the people who suffered from it into his heart. Is the flood cured?Thinking of this, he felt calm, and was even grateful for the emperor's appointment. Wasn't it his motto when he was an official to do things for the people?

In March of the 16th year of Kangxi, Kangxi appointed Jin Fu as the governor of the river, and left the capital to take up the post at the Suqian River Works Department.When passing through Handan, Jin Fu made friends with a man named Chen Huang, and the two hit it off.Seeing Chen Huang's eloquence, Jin Fu immediately felt that he had met a talented person, so he said: "To tell you the truth, I was ordered by the Holy Majesty to go to the Suqian River Works Department to serve as the river channel governor. If you don't mind, please follow me." I went to Suqian together to control the water."

Chen Huang was very happy and immediately accepted Jin Fu's invitation.When he arrived in Suqian, Jin Fu did not stop, and went directly to the affected part of the Yellow River to investigate.Because of the heavy rain just now, the dam previously built by the governor of the river is already crumbling, and a breach may occur at any time.It seems that as soon as I took over, I encountered a problem.Jin Fu and Chen Huang stood on the embankment for a while before returning to their residence. After research, the two finally came to the conclusion that they should start with investigation and investigation.In order to grasp the situation, they spent more than two months traveling thousands of miles up and down the river, and conducted on-the-spot investigations of the river-affected areas.They listened carefully to opinions from all sides, and extensively consulted local farmers, craftsmen, and servants. As long as they were helpful opinions for river governance, Jin Fu would write them down in his notebook.After this long journey, they have gained a lot.After returning, he conducted some research on the experience of river control in the past dynasties, and finally found a river control plan from it.

Jin Fu decided to adopt the river management theory of Pan Jixun, a river management officer in the Ming Dynasty, and added new measures on the basis of it to make up for the shortcomings.River embankments should be built to speed up the flow of water, attack the sand with water, and wash the sand to the sea.This is only a method in implementation. In order to avoid damage to the firmness of the embankment after the accelerated water flow, Jin Fu plans to build a second embankment two miles on both sides of the river.The two discussed it all night, and finally unified the methods, and proposed a comprehensive management plan that considered the river and transportation channels as one, and wrote a memorial book "The Eight Shus of the Manager's River" and presented it to Kangxi.Kangxi immediately expressed his agreement with Jin Fu's river control plan, and emphasized: "There are many ministers in the court who oppose the plan, but I believe in your plan. I really can't find a single flaw in the plan. I hope that Aiqing can lead by example. Step by step according to the deployment in the plan. I will allocate 2.5 million taels of silver and complete it within three years."

The approval of the plan is undoubtedly a good thing for Jin Fu.But time is too tight, can such a large project be completed within three years?Chen Huang said: "I'm really worried. Can this huge project be completed in three years? Although we have a plan, it still takes time to implement the plan. I feel that three years is not enough time, so we should do it ahead of time. Prepare yourself mentally." Chen Huang's words really stirred up Jin Fu's heart. Thinking about his previous life, he didn't have to worry so much. Did he go wrong?The farmers are in dire straits, and they may live in peace with their own hard work, and the whole family eats at the same table.Since the emperor is willing to entrust such an important task to himself, it means he has full trust in himself.Thinking of this, he suddenly felt that he did not go wrong, on the contrary, those worries before seemed superfluous.

With this belief, Jin Fu began to put all his energy on river governance.They eat and live with the river workers, and even work together with the river workers. They are on the front line of command, and their efficiency is really high.Most of the river workers are local ordinary people. Seeing Jin Fu, a high-ranking official, struggling like himself on the scene of river control, he was very moved and worked harder.There are many mosquitoes near the river in summer, and people who sleep in tents at night almost all fall asleep to the sound of mosquitoes being swat.Once, Jin Fu carried soil for a day and fell asleep in the tent at night. Chen Huang asked him for something, opened the curtain and looked, and his face changed drastically.He saw hundreds of mosquitoes with squishy legs densely packed on Jin Fu's exposed legs.Chen Huang hurriedly chased away the mosquitoes, woke up Jin Fu, and asked, "My lord, don't you feel uncomfortable?"

Jin Fu didn't understand what Chen Huang meant by "uncomfortable" for a while, so he asked, "What is 'uncomfortable'?" Chen Huang pointed to his leg and said, "When I first came in, there were hundreds of mosquitoes lying on your lap, sucking your blood, didn't you feel uncomfortable?" Only then did Jin Fu notice his legs, the big bumps were next to each other, itching unbearably. "Next time if you see it, don't wake me up. I don't feel like I'm asleep. If you yell like that, I'm afraid I won't be able to sleep tonight. How can I work tomorrow?" Jin Fu said.

Chen Huang replied with a smile: "If I don't call you, I'm afraid the mosquitoes will bite you all night, and the two adults probably won't be enough mosquitoes." Jin Fu worked on the embankment, surveyed the river embankment, and when he was with the farmers, he was very enthusiastic and humble. As long as there was reason, Jin Fu would accept it humbly.It's the same when he talks about some things with his subordinates.When Jin Fu and Chen Huang were talking, they hit it off immediately if they had something in common. If there was a disagreement, they would immediately quarrel, but this did not affect the relationship between the two, nor did it affect what they were doing right now.

The three-year deadline came soon, and most of the projects were completed, but the project of guiding the Yellow River into the sea was not completed within the three-year deadline.In the 20th year of Kangxi, Cui Weiya, the post-government envoy, played "A Discussion on River Defense" and "Two Rivers Governance". auxiliary. These twenty-four questions made Jin Fu suffocate.What kind of problem is this?Chatting with farmers is not doing business properly, dereliction of duty?Jin Fu thought it was funny.He replied: "I think I have done my best. As mentioned in the question, I talked with the peasants to understand the method of water control. It cannot be related to neglect of duty. Most of the above problems are forced into it."

Kangxi frowned and said, "Then how do you explain that the work was not completed within the deadline?" Jin Fu said: "The former governor of the river channel made the water more serious than it could not be cured. It also takes time for the minister to adjust the process. Secondly, it takes time to deploy the plan, and it takes time to start the implementation of the latter. If such a huge project Three years is far from enough to do it well without any flaws. If the minister treats flood control as a pretext, two years is enough. If the people are to be safe, it must be done carefully. Only a minister can be worthy of his own conscience, worthy of the emperor's trust in his subject, and worthy of all the people in the world." Kangxi was moved by Jin Fu's words, he carefully considered the meaning, and there was not a word that did not stand on the word "reasonable".So, he stood up and said, "Listening to Aiqing's words just now, I am filled with emotions. I will give you more time. Now that there has been no big breach in the Yellow River for three years, it can be seen that Aiqing's flood control is also effective. Let's do it." , I support you to continue." Jin Fu was ordered to return to Suqian. From the 23rd year to the 27th year of Kangxi, the river control project presided over by Jin Fu has shifted from the lower reaches to the middle reaches. This is a flood-prone area, and Jin Fu has worked hard on it.He built many dams, and the narrow part of the river is where the dam bears the greatest water pressure.In order to reduce the pressure on the embankment, Jin Fu opened a canal there to divert water, adjust the water volume, and then divert the diverted water to the main channel with a wider river surface, thus avoiding the danger of rushing water to break the embankment. Flood control was in full swing, and in the ruling group of the Qing Dynasty, there were suddenly differences of opinion on how to control the Yellow River.Some ministers headed by Yu Chenglong advocated another river control plan; at this time, Jin Fu's water control was in a critical period, and he, Chen Huang and others insisted on their own approach.The two sides insisted on their own views and argued endlessly.Kangxi thought of a compromise, appointed Jin Fu to supervise the embankment of the Yellow River, and appointed Yu Chenglong to manage the affairs of going down the river.In this way, the project done by Jin Fu was handed over to Yu Chenglong.However, the differences in river governance did not end with this. On the contrary, they intensified and eventually turned into political contradictions and struggles within the ruling group, and Jin Fu soon became a victim of this struggle. In March of the twenty-seventh year of Kangxi, Kangxi dismissed Jin Fu and imprisoned Chen Huang.Later, during Kangxi's southern tour, he saw that the embankment of the Yellow River was well built, and he heard that farmers in many places in the south of the Yangtze River praised the former governor's embankment for his ability to control the water.Kangxi regretted it. He shouldn't have listened to the slander and dismissed Jin Fu from his post. It was really reckless. In the thirty-first year of Kangxi, he re-appointed Jin Fu as governor of the river, but Jin Fu died in office that year.In the 30 years after Jin Fu's death, Jin Fu's successor Yu Chenglong and others basically followed Jin Fu's river control policy. Since then, there has not been a major breach in the water of the Yellow River in the past 30 years. This is related to Kangxi's employment, but the most important thing is Jin Fu's efforts.His down-to-earth approach to doing things and the principle of doing everything by himself have enabled him to make great achievements in the management of the Yellow River.His attitude not only enabled him to grasp the first-hand information, which laid the foundation for formulating a reasonable and effective treatment plan, but also in the process of implementing the plan, it was precisely because of his spirit of going to the construction site to eat and live with the river workers Moved the surrounding people.Everyone worked together to make a reasonable plan well implemented.If an official has such a spirit and attitude, he will be a respected official both in ancient times and in the present.If it wasn't for various political factors that led to Jin Fu's dismissal and imprisonment, he could have achieved greater achievements.