Lu Bu: My wife comes from two thousand years later

"Mother, can't we wait until the New Year to go? Daddy's not here, and you have to leave too..."

As the new year was approaching, outside the earth building, Lu Qian grabbed his mother who was about to get on the car and pleaded with her in a wronged tone.

Zhang Mo turned around and touched her son's head reluctantly, her face full of helplessness. "Mom wants to spend the New Year with you, but things over there can't be delayed. Spring plowing will begin in three or four months. If we can't plan everything well before then, every acre of land not cultivated next year will result in one more person starving to death."

"Can't we let someone else do it?" Lü Qian glanced at Xu You, Fa Zheng, and Xu Ding, who were waiting on horseback ahead. "Can't we let them do it?"

Lu Qian fought back the tears welling in his eyes. Zhang Mo's heart trembled, her throat suddenly choking. She looked up and blinked, then paused for a moment before pulling her son to the side of the stone street and sitting down. "Do you remember your mother telling you the story of Dayu controlling the flood?"

Lu Qian nodded. "In order to control the flood, he passed by his home three times without entering."

"Then do you know why the lower reaches of the Yellow River flood so frequently?"

Lu Qian thought for a moment and said, "It was because of the heavy rain that the river broke through the dam."

“How should we govern it?”

"Wouldn't it be enough to just reinforce the dam?"

"That's just treating the symptoms, not the root cause."

Zhang Mo smoothed the snow in front of her with her foot, then drew the outline of the Yellow River with her finger. She explained, "The Yellow River is called the Yellow River because it contains a very high amount of sand. The sand is carried by the water and deposited on the plains downstream, causing the riverbed to rise above the ground, forming an above-ground river. People can only prevent the river from overflowing by continuously raising the levees. But as the levees get higher and higher, and the water level of the Yellow River also rises, disasters often become more severe than before. If any section of the levee breaks, many areas downstream in Henan, Yanzhou East Commandery, and Qingzhou Plain Commandery will be flooded. The consequences can be imagined."

Lu Qian looked bewildered. "What does this have to do with your trip to the Southern Xiongnu?"

Zhang Mo pointed to the right half of the line about the Yellow River. "Because almost all the silt it carries comes from here, the key to flood control lies in sand control and soil erosion control. Farming is the least conducive to soil and water conservation, but for convenient water access, people cultivate almost all their fields near rivers. So, mother needs to go to this area to assess the actual situation and demarcate farming, animal husbandry, and forest areas. Only by effectively controlling silt upstream can we reduce the damage caused by floods downstream. Furthermore, officials at all levels of the Xiongnu must be appointed and dismissed as soon as possible. Only with people in charge can normal order be restored there."

Lu Qian nodded, then asked doubtfully, "The land downstream is other people's territory. Why is Mother so concerned about them? If Yanzhou is flooded, wouldn't Cao Mengde be doomed?"

Zhang Mo said, "Sand control is a major undertaking that will benefit future generations. How can we be limited by the current distinction between friend and foe? Besides, Yanzhou will eventually be ours, and the people of Yanzhou will eventually become citizens of the Tang Empire. My son, you must take a long-term view."

"Since it is for the sake of our Tang Kingdom and its people, then your son will go with you. Your son wants to learn from you." Lu Qian raised his head and looked at her expectantly.

"The north is bitterly cold, and you're still too young. What if you get sick?"

Zhang Mo pulled him to his feet and touched his little face lovingly. "When you grow up a little, mother will take you to every inch of our Tang Kingdom and learn about the people's lives and customs in different places. Now go back and help mother take care of your younger brothers and sisters and study hard."

As she was speaking, Lv Zhen and Lv Xuan, who had heard the news, rushed out of the earth building one after another, hugging her thighs on both sides. Lv Xuan burst into tears, "Mom, don't go. Xuan'er likes you the most, I love you the most. Don't go... don't go..."

Zhang Mo's mood, which had been calmed down, became even more sad when her little daughter cried. She squatted down, picked her up and kissed her again and again, but she couldn't say a word. She was afraid that if she opened her mouth, she would lose control and cry too.

The last time she left, Zhen'er and Xuan'er were still young and didn't understand anything. She felt reluctant but not strongly guilty. But this time, it was like a knife stabbed her heart and she was filled with pain.

Seeing his mother's sad face, Lu Qian became sensible at this moment. He walked over and took his sister away with one hand, and took his brother away with the other hand, and said to Zhang Mo, "Don't worry, mother, I will take care of my brothers and sisters."

"Let go...Xuan'er wants to ride in the car with mother...Xuan'er also wants to go..."

"Mother, Zhen'er wants to go too. Don't leave him behind..."

Lv Xuan struggled and cried loudly in Lv Qian's arms. Lv Zhen also struggled to follow. Aunt Xu came over from behind, picked up Lv Zhen and wiped her tears. She looked at A Mo with eyes full of love and heartache, "Take care of yourself. I have the children. Don't worry about them. Auntie will take good care of you."

Zhang Mo bowed to Aunt Xu, turned around and quickly got on the carriage. Juxiang, who was standing beside the carriage, was already in tears. Xu Chu felt like there was sand in his eyes, so he rubbed it hard with the back of his hand, then waved to signal the convoy to set off.

The rumbling sound of the wheels was accompanied by the heart-wrenching cries of the children. The tears that Zhang Mo had been holding back for a long time finally burst out like a flood, but she could only bite her lips to hold back her tears.

The children's childhood only lasts a few years, but she cannot always be with them. In ancient times with backward transportation, it takes two or three months to go out for a while, and even more so a year and a half. This is the helplessness of the times, and even more so her helplessness.

In addition to Zhang Mo, Xu You, Fa Zheng, and Xu Ding, there were also a group of other officials and their families who were preparing to take up their posts in Shanzhou. The convoy stretched from outside the earth building to the official road next to the mulberry forest outside the lotus pond.

With the rumbling of carriages and horses, the team split into two after leaving Jinyang. Most of the officials who were taking up their posts went north, passing through Yanmen County and Dingxiang County, and went directly to Yunzhong County, Yunzhong County, which was the selected location of the new royal court of the Xiongnu. Zhang Mo and others went west across the Luliang Mountains to Xihe County, and then went north from Lan County along the Yellow River Valley.

Walking out of Luliang Mountain, the scenery along the way was basically the same. Zhang Mo would stop to climb up and look at the view every time she walked for a while. Along the way, almost all she saw was the loess plateau with gullies everywhere. She had known this situation before she came. Although she had never been here in person in her previous life, this was the appearance of the Loess Plateau that she saw on the map or on TV.

However, the Loess Plateau more than a thousand years ago is different from the modern one. What we see today is mostly yellow-brown soil, with almost no large tracts of green mountains and forests. In ancient times, due to the sparse population and low level of development, there was less damage to nature. Standing on a high mountain and looking down, the plateau is bleak in the cold winter. What you see before you are countless overlapping and continuous mountains, alternating between black and white. The white is frost and snow, and the black is the withered trees and hay in winter.

"Fortunately, fortunately, if it had been completely destroyed, with the current manpower and resources, there would be no way to repair it."

Zhang Mo sighed, then issued her first decree for Shanzhou. "A twenty-li area along the Yellow River, as well as along all tributaries flowing through Shanzhou and Hedong Commandery, shall be designated as forest reserves. Signs shall be posted throughout the forest areas to warn against deforestation and grassland destruction. Anyone found cutting down trees in a protected area will be fined ten trees for every one they cut down. Records of the boundaries of these protected areas shall be filed. If any forest is found to have disappeared or shrunk in the future, local officials shall be dismissed and investigated. This decree shall be strictly enforced by all officials of all generations as long as the Tang Dynasty exists, and no one shall be allowed to abolish it."

She turned to look at Xu Ding, "Bo'an, please write this down. When we establish our nation in the future, this article must be included in the Tang Law."

Xu Ding quickly took out his notebook and wrote it down with charcoal. When he finished, Zhang Mo continued, "No more wasteland will be reclaimed along the river banks. Some farmers who have already cultivated the land will be gradually relocated in the future. Counties should build more water wheels and ditches. Farmland near the river banks should be avoided as much as possible. Instead, more trees and grass should be planted. This is a long process, tentatively planned to be completed within ten years."

"Why would the princess issue such an order?" Xu You was puzzled. "Repairing ditches and building more water wheels is a waste of time and money, but why?"

Zhang Mo explained to everyone what she had said to Lu Qian earlier, "Although it will be difficult and expensive at the beginning, once this tree planting project is completed, it will benefit the people of the Central Plains for generations to come."