Chapter 131 Wangchuan River Valley
Since the Tiger Tooth Army began to build the Lantian Camp, a team of immigrants walked out of the Lantian Valley every two days and came to the vicinity of the Ba River to participate in the construction.

The immigrant teams carried as much food, fodder and tools as possible, but there was a lack of vehicles and tools, and human transportation was limited.

Basically, each person can only carry half a month's worth of food. If you include the food that Black Bear looted from various counties in Weinan, they can still last for about forty days.

During the forty days, Zhong Yao would continue to transport grain, and the autumn grain from various counties in Weinan would be collected.

There is uncertainty regarding the entry of these two batches of grain into storage.

To avoid accidents, Black Bear led more than a thousand people into Chang'an City to search the ruins and select large timber from them.

The key components for making a wheelbarrow require shade-dried hardwood, but there is no time to dry it, so we can only search for it from the ruins.

Even if it is the so-called golden nanmu, as long as it is suitable, it can be used to make axles.

With wheelbarrows, a transport team of 700 people was equipped with 500 wheelbarrows, with each cart carrying five bags of rice, and could transport 5,000 shi at a time.

It only takes five days to travel from Lantian to Shangluo County and back; if six trips are made in a month, 30,000 shi of grain can be obtained.

Therefore, two transport teams were needed to transport the grain piled up in Shangluo County to Guanzhong.

This kind of thing requires Sima Zhi's full assistance. Sufficient food is the key to the subsequent fight with all parties for Guanzhong.

So Black Bear relied on the infinite endurance of the Yin Gan Horse and led his men to plunder the ruins of Chang'an in the morning, and arrived at Shangluo County, more than 300 miles away, in the afternoon.

On the north bank of the river in Shangluo County, there is a temporary grain storage mansion built by Sima Zhi. It adopts the construction technology of southern villages. The granary is built with bamboo and wood and suspended in the air to prevent moisture.

There were two layers of rain protection and rows of sacks were stacked.

Sima Zhi led the black bear to inspect the grains and talked about the transportation work in the Danshui River Basin.

After the merger of Shangxian and Shangluo, there is no Shangxian anymore, only Shangcheng.

Now Shangcheng has become a simple transit point for water transport. From Shangcheng, there are mature water transport canals connecting with Nanxiang and Xiangyang.

As long as there are no heavy rains or flood peaks, the fleet can travel smoothly.

To the north of Shangcheng, there are several rapids between it and Shangluo County, and it is necessary to deploy personnel locally to force the passage by pulling and dragging with ropes.

The drop in elevation over this 100-li river is only about 200 meters, which is not too big, and the river as a whole is not very turbulent. The only problem is the rapids and bends.

Currently there is no manpower to cut through mountains and break rocks, otherwise straightening this section of the river would save manpower in the long run and allow the water transport to extend a hundred miles northward.

The current difficulty in transportation is not from Nanxiang to Shangluo, but the land transportation from Shangluo to Lantian.

After Sima Zhi finished describing the arrangement of the Danshui Canal, he pointed to an important tributary of the Danshui in the northwest and said, "General, the Danshui has two tributaries, one originating from the northeastern Zhongling Mountain, which has a longer source and is the source of the Danshui; the other is the Nanqin River from the northwest."

Black Bear looked at the confluence of two rivers three or four miles to the north, and then observed the flow of the Nanqin River, which was barely feasible for boating.

Inevitably, there was some surprise: "You mean that the Nanqin River can be extended for water transport and continue northward?"

Sima Zhi was stunned. He didn't have such a crazy idea. He said immediately: "I don't know for now. What I mean is that the water power of the Nanqin River is gentle and stable. I want to build a water mill on the bank to pound rice."

The advantage of rice is its durability in storage and transportation, but its disadvantage is its large size. If it is hulled here, the efficiency of land transportation can be increased by a quarter.

It is best to husk the rice here because there is a chance that the grain will get damp during the transportation of the Danshui River.

Once more high-quality small transport ships are built, this problem can be eliminated.

By that time, rice could be pounded in Xiangyang or Nanxiang.

Black Bear listened to Sima Zhi's story and nodded: "You have put in a lot of effort. You can expand the scale of the water mill. The rice husks obtained from pounding rice can also be used by me."

Raising geese in Guanzhong in winter is a problem. The rice husks obtained from pounding rice with a water-powered mill can be used to feed geese and horses in winter.

After the war, Black Bear plans to build a horse farm in the Lantian Valley.

He vaguely remembered that the degeneration of horses in the Central Plains was due to a problem of trace element intake; he was not sure whether it was true or not, but raising horses in mountainous areas not only saved manpower but also supplemented trace elements.

Sima Zhi nodded and wrote it down, then said, "When pounding rice, it is inevitable that there will be some loss. Please send someone to supervise the work. Since I took charge of this county, I have also lacked trustworthy people."

Currently, grain is transported in sacks with clear quantities and no problems have occurred.

Moreover, the transport team was newly formed, and no one was familiar with the upper and lower levels, so no one dared to intervene.

Seeing Black Bear thinking, Sima Zhi continued, "Also, this county is full of rivers, valleys and ravines, and bandits appear and disappear from time to time, which is quite troublesome. Fortunately, our army relies on the canal transportation and is traveling in a large group, so we are able to survive. If we don't take precautions, once the bandits in the mountains join forces and take over the Jingman and mountain people, it will definitely endanger the canal transportation."

Black Bear probably understood what he meant, and immediately said, "You can investigate, just based on hearsay. Give me the clues, and I'll handle it. And you should also be careful with the water mill. From a technical point of view, there should be very little rice grains left after pounding the rice, and there shouldn't be any sand or gravel, right?"

"Don't dare."

Sima Zhi's mouth twitched and he smiled awkwardly. In fact, he couldn't guarantee it either.

Who can resist putting in a handful of sand and exchanging it for a handful of well-pounded, white rice?

Feeling that Black Bear seemed to be very concerned about this matter, Sima Zhi came up with an idea and said immediately: "I remember that Madam made two types of sacks in Nanxiang, and stamped them separately to distinguish them. Why not make it more refined, store the rice in separate warehouses, and use a special rice bag for each warehouse, so that we can investigate in detail."

After thinking for a while, he said, "It is not appropriate to use hemp rope to seal the sacks. You can use thin cowhide rope. Buy some lead and seal the leather rope with lead when sealing the sacks in each warehouse. Put a mark on it. In this way, we can trace the individual."

Black Bear listened and nodded slowly: "This is a good idea. Instead of punishing them severely afterwards, it is better to spend some time and effort from the beginning to eliminate their hidden dangers. I don't like killing people. Tell the officials and workers who will pound and pack rice in the future that I will feed the sand and gravel in the rice bags into their stomachs. If they can't finish it, let their children and parents eat it. If they still can't finish it, let the three clans and nine clans eat it. It will always be eaten up."

"Yes, I dare not be negligent." Sima Zhi bowed solemnly. It was he who proposed the policy of pounding rice, but he was really alone and lacked relatives and fellow villagers he could trust.

Therefore, when it comes to supervision, we have the will but not the ability.

Sima Zhi also felt that Black Bear took this matter too seriously, so he suggested: "General, I have a friend, Pei Qian, from Wenxi County in Hedong, whose temperament and talent are several times greater than mine. If we ask him to supervise, there will be no omissions or negligence."

"I heard Liu Qi introduce this man. If you can bring him here, I will temporarily ask him to be in charge of the work of pounding rice with the water mill here. I will give him the job and appoint him after Guanzhong is stabilized."

Black Bear looked around and said, "You don't have to be embarrassed. If he doesn't come, I won't be angry with him. I am getting along with Zhong Yao for the time being. If Pei Qian wants to go back to Hedong, I can send someone to Fenglingdu."

"Yes, I understand."

Sima Zhi bowed deeply and suggested: "I have already prepared a banquet, please move on, General."

"I will return to Lantian tonight and skip this meal."

Black Bear waved as he spoke, and in the distance Lu Bu came towards them, leading his horse.

Black Bear climbed onto his horse, grabbed the reins, turned his horse around and said to Sima Zhi, "Don't worry about those trivial details. The most important thing right now is to ensure the stability of the grain route. As for other problems, we can solve them at any time once Guanzhong is stabilized."

Sima Zhi understood what he was going to sweep away, and nodded heavily: "Yes, I understand, and I will appease them."

"Can your old lady adapt to the climate of Shangluo?"

Sima Zhi's serious expression softened after hearing this, and he smiled: "Thank you for your concern, General. My mother is doing well."

"Well, Guanzhong is just beginning. Once our army has established a solid foundation, we will send the old lady to Guanzhong. You don't have to wait any longer. Let the old lady quickly choose a suitable wife for you."

Black Bear said as he looked up at the mountains where the night clouds gradually rose: "The Qinling Mountains have continuous autumn rains, which is not good for the elderly. I use you as a person, and I don't want anything to happen to the old lady. Take good care of the rain and heating, don't let the old lady catch a cold."

After thinking for a while, Black Bear saw that the sky was gradually getting dark, and Sima Zhi's subordinates in the distance could not see clearly what was going on.

Then a peach appeared in his hand and he threw it to Sima Zhi. Sima Zhi subconsciously caught it and immediately felt it was heavy.

Seeing his expression, Black Bear just smiled and said, "You ensure that my food supply is smooth, and I will ensure that you and your child are healthy. Hurry up and get married. With children, anywhere will be home."

"Yes, I understand."

Sima Zhi held the peach in both hands and bowed again: "I know what kind of woman I should marry."

According to Han law, as a county magistrate, he was not allowed to marry wives or concubines from the local area.

Black Bear repeatedly warned him, and he understood it, telling him to quickly get married and have children, and not to think about marrying into a wealthy or powerful family.

Just marry a woman of the right age from a poor but good family.

No matter how high your family background or how powerful you are, you will most likely not be able to escape the next round of purge.

After pacifying Sima Zhi, Black Bear and Lu Bu rode away at a rapid speed, one in front and one behind.

Soon she disappeared from Sima Zhi's sight, and Sima Zhi hid Taozi close to his body.

After he returned, he asked the chief clerk: "General, do you have any ideas for extending the canal transportation to the north?"

The closer to the northern end of the Danshui Canal, the more manpower is saved.

A dozen local officials looked at each other, and one of them pointed to the northeastern mountain of Zhongling and said, "County Lord, the source of the Danshui River is separated from the tributary of the Bashui River by a steep mountain, making it difficult to pass, let alone dig a hole to store water."

Then he pointed to the Nanqin River in the northwest and said, "There is a place in the upper reaches of the Nanqin River, separated from the Wangchuan River Valley by only a mountain. If we dig through this mountain and pave a stone road, it will only be ten miles away."

"What about Wangchuan?"

"This is also a tributary of the Bashui River, but the water at its source is thin and difficult to use."

The man explained in detail to Sima Zhi, who was interested: "If we build dams to store river water, then we can barely sail. But in this case, we need to build more dams, one every ten miles. At each dam, the grain transport materials need to be loaded and unloaded and transferred. Even so, it should be faster than the Lantian Valley Road."

The man gestured with his hands as he spoke, and Sima Zhi roughly understood what he said.

The Nanhe River is also navigable, and supplies can be transported to the foot of the mountain by boat; then the mountain can be excavated and a smooth passage can be built.

The mountain road is less than ten miles long, and it can be seen that it is also a small hill.

Finally, there is the upper reaches of the Wangchuan River Valley, where the river is narrow and difficult to navigate.

So it is necessary to build dams to raise the water level.

But in this case, when the Wangchuan River Valley is hit by mountain torrents, these dams will inevitably be destroyed.

Therefore, the proposal for a dam can only be a concept.

The only practical significance is that the northern end of the canal transport can continue to extend northward!
Wangchuan Valley is one of the Lantian valleys, located slightly west of the current Wugu Road.

Wuguan Road also runs through several mountain valleys.

If the Wangchuan Valley has the potential for transformation, then it is worth transforming.

Did Emperor Guangwu really not want to stay in Guanzhong back then?
If there was a relatively stable water transport route with large transportation volume between Guanzhong and Jingzhou, then... Sima Zhi couldn't imagine it.

(End of this chapter)