Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 383 [The costly and laborious bridge builder]

Huazhou, Wuxiang County (now Dali County, Weinan).

After Yu Jin took office as the governor of Huazhou, he took over the governor's office in Huayin City, the provincial capital, and immediately led a large group of men to Wuxiang County.

This frightened the head of Wuxiang County. Wuxiang was originally a superior county. The head of the superior county was the county magistrate, a seventh-rank civil official, with two regular assistant officials.

However, the magistrate of Wuxiang County had very bad luck. Not long after he took office in Huazhou, due to the long-term unrest in Guanzhong, Wuxiang County suffered serious population loss and was transformed from an upper county to a lower county.

The chief official of a county is the county magistrate, who is of the ninth rank and has no assistant officials.

Although the official rank of County Magistrate Sun did not decrease, he was demoted from a county magistrate to a county head, becoming a commander without any troops.

Later, Huazhou was once conquered by Hu Chen. County Magistrate Sun was quite responsible and led the people of Wuxiang County to defend the county town for three months, thus driving away the rebels who were besieging the city.

After Su Ze took control of Huazhou, County Magistrate Sun was retained in his position because of his good reputation among local officials and his decent work ability.

When the new governor Yu Jin arrived at the small Wuxiang County, County Magistrate Sun was extremely terrified, fearing that he might have done something inappropriate and offended the important officials around the Duke of Gaoping.

Fortunately, Yu Jin did not come to embarrass a small county magistrate like him. Shortly after Yu Jin arrived, a large team of craftsmen arrived in Wuxiang County.

The weather is nice today, and County Magistrate Sun followed Yu Jin to the bank of the Yellow River.

"Mr. Zhou, this is the original site of the ancient ferry."

The Northern Wei Dynasty did not have provincial governors, but local officials would still use the term "provincial governor" to refer to the governor of a province to show respect for their superiors.

After much thought, County Magistrate Sun concluded that Yu Jin came to rebuild the ferry and had done a lot of homework.

Wuxiang County was originally a prosperous upper county because it was across the river from Puzhou Ferry, a trade and transportation hub of the Yellow River. The county was once filled with merchants coming and going.

However, when Beihai King Yuan Hao served as the governor of Huazhou, in order to ensure the safety of Luoyang, Yuan Hao ordered the demolition of the ferry facilities on the west bank of the Yellow River, that is, Wuxiang County. From then on, large ships could no longer dock here, and only civilian ships and fishing boats could travel here. Wuxiang County inevitably declined.

County Magistrate Sun was also very excited. If the ferry could be rebuilt, he might have the opportunity to be promoted from a county magistrate to a county magistrate.

However, Yu Jin did not seem to have much interest in the old ferry site. Instead, he stood by the Yellow River, watching the flowing water and looking at the other side of the river.

The craftsmen brought by Yu Jin were also tinkering by the Yellow River. They took out some instruments that County Magistrate Sun could not understand at all, and said words that County Magistrate Sun could not understand.

The group worked from early morning till noon. The last craftsman stood beside Yu Jin and said:
"Yu, Governor, this is it. This is the best place to build a bridge."

Yu Jin nodded repeatedly.

He was also very puzzled as to where Su Ze found these skilled craftsmen. This bridge builder named Su Chun did have superb skills, but the projects he proposed each time were too shocking.

For example, Su Chun once proposed to build a floating bridge at the place where the Liuhan Balingdu was destroyed, so that the survivors of the Six Garrisons could escape to Xiazhou and build a permanent floating bridge to connect the north and south banks of the Yellow River.

Of course, this plan was rejected by Su Ze.

The reason is that the north is now in turmoil, and building a floating bridge is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and it may eventually become a channel for northern nomads to move south. It is really not worth it. It will not be too late to rebuild it when Wuyuan City is established and the northern defense line can be controlled.

Next, Su Chun was quiet for a while, and then he made a big move in the Ministry of Works!
He suggested building a permanent wooden floating bridge between Wuxiang County, Huazhou and Pubanjin on the opposite bank!

Yu Jin, the assistant minister of the Political Affairs Hall, was also stunned after seeing this detailed plan with pictures and texts!
There is precedent for building a floating bridge across the Yellow River. In the past, Duke Zhao of Qin built a floating bridge at Pubanjin, but those were temporary floating bridges.

What Su Chun proposed to build was a permanent floating bridge, a dual-use military and civilian floating bridge that could accommodate four horses moving at the same time.

As a military general, Yu Jin was well aware of the strategic significance of this floating bridge.

As a defensive entity, there are actually three strategic locations around Tongguan - Tongguan, Fenglingdu and Pubanjin.

Among them, although Fenglingdu is also a ferry crossing that can travel across the Yellow River, its geographical conditions are much worse than those of Pubanjin. It can only be used to transmit messages at most, but cannot accommodate large troops.

The only places that could truly accommodate the passage of a large army were Tongguan and Pubanjin.

If a floating bridge is actually built at Pubanjin to connect the two sides of the Yellow River, the army of Huazhou can quickly leave Guanzhong and enter the capital area near Luoyang!

Su Ze also discussed the strategic gains and losses of Guanzhong with his important officials.

The advantage of Guanzhong is that it is a self-contained place with strong defenses on all four sides. If important passes such as Tongguan are occupied, Guanzhong will be able to develop steadily no matter how turbulent the Central Plains is.

This is very similar to the situation before Qin unified the world.

However, Guanzhong’s disadvantage is that it is too self-contained, which makes it a big prison and it is easy to be blocked in Guanzhong.

The fact that it was so difficult for Qin to conquer the six kingdoms, and the difficulty that Liu Bang faced in conquering Guanzhong, both illustrate this point.

The construction of the bridge in Pubanjin is to establish a stable exit channel during the chaos, so that Guanzhong can be truly offensive or defensive! After seeing Su Chun's plan, Yu Jin carefully studied his plan and actually felt that his plan seemed to be really feasible!
During today's field investigation, I found that this section of the Yellow River in Wuxiang is really narrow. The ferry on the other side can be seen from a distance, and the conditions here are indeed suitable for building a floating bridge.

Su Chun said:

"The plan revised by the county lord himself is to build two iron bulls on each bank to pull and fix the floating bridge and suppress the Yellow River."

"At the same time, the floating bridges on both sides can be started at the same time, and finally connected on the river, which can save construction time."

"The Duke also agreed to the construction plan. We will use iron chains to fix the rafts on the river, then lay wooden boards on the rafts, and finally use iron chains to pull them together."

Yu Jin's heart trembled when he heard this. Just by listening to it, he knew how huge the workload was.

He looked at Su Chun. How come this guy was just like Su Miao from the Ministry of Industry? He always asked for such a big project.

Yu Jin didn't know that Su Chun, like Su Miao, was a follower with the [Waste of Time and Money] suffix.

[The costly and laborious bridge builder]

Name: Su Chun;
Grade: Purple;
Effect: This follower always likes to propose some costly and laborious bridge projects. If left unchecked, it will consume the budget without limit.

Comment: "A bridge builder who is good at designing and building bridges. He is a party B father who has outstanding business ability but is unwilling to modify the design drawings."

Price: 800 Wen Tai and Wu Zhu coins, and a monthly maintenance fee of 100 Wen Tai and Wu Zhu coins is required. If the design requirements are not met and the design draft is frequently modified, the quality of the follower will decline.

After rejecting Su Chun's request to build a floating bridge in Wuyuan, Su Ze finally supported his plan to build a floating bridge in Pubanjin in order not to lower Su Chun's quality.

County Magistrate Sun, who was following behind the two men, was also shocked when he heard this grand plan.

County Magistrate Sun was both happy and worried.

What made him happy was that such an important project fell under his charge. As long as it was done well, it would be a great achievement and he would definitely be promoted and make a fortune.

What he was worried about was that such an important project would definitely consume countless manpower and material resources. Wuxiang County was already a lower-level county, and if it took on such a large project and sparked a civil uprising, he would be the one to bear the consequences.

As soon as Jin got off the riverbank, County Magistrate Sun stepped forward and said:
"Yuzhou Mu, our Wuxiang County is already a lower county, and we really can't afford such a large project!"

Yu Jin glanced at County Magistrate Sun and had a more favorable impression of this local official who had been in office for many years.

Being able to consider the people under his rule is a rare good official in the Wei Dynasty.

Yu Jin comforted County Magistrate Sun and said:
"Don't worry about that, County Magistrate Sun. Since the Duke has decided to build a bridge in Wuxiang County, he must have thought it through."

"Wuxiang County will be exempted from rent and taxes for three years. The craftsmen from the county magistrate's office will open an iron smelter in the county, and the people will not have to bear the cost of casting the iron ox."

"As for the manpower for building the bridge, there will be laborers to do the work. What County Magistrate Sun needs to do is to resettle them."

County Magistrate Zisun felt relieved at this, but then he became excited again.

As long as I complete this mission, isn't it an opportunity for promotion?
-
October, the third year of Xiaochang.

The newly appointed commander-in-chief of the Eastern Expedition, Prince Anle Yuanjian, led his troops to win several battles and lifted the siege of Xindu.

Under the persuasion of Pei Yan and Yuan Ziyong, Yuan Jian temporarily gave up the idea of ​​advancing recklessly and fought several more battles with the rebels.

Ge Rong, who claimed to be the emperor, also led his troops to Yecheng and sent out a vanguard to confront Yuan Jian.

Yuan Jian showed great prowess on the battlefield and successively repelled several armies of Ge Rong. He gradually forgot the advice of Pei Yan and Yuan Ziyong and continued to lead his troops towards Yecheng.

Yecheng is the capital of Jizhou and an important city in Hebei region. As an ancient capital, Yecheng also has important political significance.

Ge Rong's so-called "procession" was in Yecheng. Yuan Jian became more and more proud and spread the word in the army that he would capture Yecheng and capture Ge Rong alive.

Pei Yan and Yuan Ziyong, who had stayed behind in Xindu, were frightened. Seeing that Yuan Jian was fighting further and further away, they had no choice but to lead their troops to catch up with Yuan Jian.

But subsequent developments exceeded everyone's expectations before the war.

Ge Rong, who had once defeated Yuan Shen, performed in a way that was incomprehensible to the world. The army that Ge Rong deployed on the front line of Yecheng was defeated one after another, and was even driven out of the city of Yecheng by Yuan Jian.

Yuan Jian was also constantly gathering the wealthy families of Jizhou, and his military force grew to 80,000. He actually set up camp near Yecheng and began to attack Yecheng.

Yecheng had been attacked many times in recent years, and most of the city walls had collapsed. Yuan Jian entered Yecheng at the end of October, and Ge Rong abandoned the emperor's ceremonial guard and retreated.

Yuan Jian reviewed the troops in front of Yecheng, and then, surrounded by the crowd, he triumphantly entered Yecheng. While asking for merit and rewards from the court, he also took into his pocket all the imperial ceremonial guards that Ge Rong had left behind.

(End of this chapter)