Chapter 5 Chapter 5 Qin Shihuang's Cruise on the Sea

In 221 BC, Qin Shihuang established my country's first unified multi-ethnic centralized feudal state.At that time, my country's land extended to the sea in the east, and from north to south was the Bohai Sea, the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, and the South China Sea. It had formed a country that was both a continent and an ocean, providing extremely favorable geographical conditions for the navigation industry.With the continuous development of the iron smelting industry, social productivity has been further improved.The development of trade has put forward higher requirements for the shipbuilding industry.Since then, my country's shipbuilding industry has experienced three major development periods: Qin, Han, Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties.

The Qin and Han Dynasties were the first peak period of my country's ancient shipbuilding industry. It inherited and developed the advanced shipbuilding technology in the Bashu area and some of the original six countries.During this period, my country's ships were not only large in scale but also of various types, and were able to build high-tech building ships. Qin once organized a large fleet capable of transporting 500,000 shi of grain when he quelled the war in the south.After Qin unified the country, Qin Shihuang organized five large-scale sea cruises during his 12-year reign (221 BC-210 BC), which demonstrated the navigation capabilities of the Qin Dynasty.

Qin Shihuang made five tours successively. Except for the first tour to the west of Longxi in 220 BC, the second to fifth tours were all on the sea.If in Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, my country's navigation industry was only in its infancy, then after Qin unified China, my country's navigation industry entered its development stage. The first cruise on the sea was in the twenty-eighth year of Qin Shihuang (219 BC).This is the first planned and organized large-scale voyage in the ancient history of our country.Qin Shihuang visited the prefectures and counties in the east, first went to Zouyi Mountain (in Zouxian County, Shandong Province), erected stones to praise merits, and then conferred (building an altar to worship the sky is called Feng) Taishan (today's Tai'an and other counties in Shandong Province), Zen (Piji worship place is called Zen) Liang Father (the hill under Mount Tai), then traveled eastward to the sea, to the two ports of Huang (now Huangxian, Shandong) and Yu (chuichui) (now Fushan County, Shandong) in Bohai Bay, and then went east to Chengshan (now Chengshantou, Shandong Peninsula) , Zhifu [fufu] (now Yantai, Shandong) standing stones, praising Qin De.From here, go south to Langya Port (now the southern border of Jiaonan, Shandong Province) to stay for three months, build Langya Terrace, and order 30,000 households to migrate from the inland to the Langya Terrace, exempt from taxation for 12 years, erect a monument, and sing praises to Qin Shihuang .On the way to the east, Xu Fu, a alchemist from Qi, wrote a letter saying that there are three sacred mountains in the sea, named Penglai, Fangzhang, and Yingzhou. There are immortals and elixir.So thousands of boys and girls went into the sea to seek immortals.Because the matter was false, Xu Fu and others lied because of the wind that "it didn't come, but I saw it".On the way back, the first emperor crossed Pengcheng (now Xuzhou, Jiangsu) and crossed the Huai River in the southwest, and then went to the Xiangshan Temple (now in the west Dongting Lake in Yueyang, Hunan).Qin Shihuang was angry and ordered 3,000 prisoners to cut down the trees in Xiangshan Mountain before entering Wuguan from Nanjun (now the Jianghan River Basin in Hubei Province) and returning to the capital Xianyang.

The second cruise on the sea was in the twenty-ninth year of Qin Shihuang (218 BC).When Qin Shihuang's convoy arrived at Bolangsha (now in the south of Yuanyang County, Henan Province), the Korean aristocrat Zhang Liang ordered his wrestlers to ambush with iron cones and missed the auxiliary vehicle.The first emperor was assassinated and missed, so he ordered Da Suo for ten days, but the murderer was not found.After that, he climbed Zhifu again, carved a stone and erected a stele, and came to Langya Port again on the way home. The third sea tour was in the 32nd year of Qin Shihuang (215 BC) when Qin Shihuang visited Jieshi (in today's Changli Sea in Henan Province, one said it was in the southwest of Laoting in today's Hebei, and the other said it was in Wudi in today's Shandong Province). monument.In order to pursue immortality, Lu Sheng, an alchemist from Yan, went to the sea to beg Xianmen, Gao Oath and other ancient immortals, but he could not return them.In the second year, General Meng Tian was ordered to send 300,000 troops to attack the Xiongnu in the north and recover the Hetao area south of the Yellow River (now Hetao and Yikezhao League area in Inner Mongolia).There are 44 counties.In order to prevent the Huns from invading, Qin Shihuang recruited a large number of migrant workers to connect the old Great Walls of Yan, Zhao and Qin into the Great Wall, starting from Lintao (now Minxian County, Gansu Province) in the west and ending in Liaodong (now north of Liaoyang, Liaoning Province) in the east.In order to solve the problem of food and wages in the north, a northern air route was opened up starting from Huangyu and Langye, entering the Bohai Sea, diverting to the ancient Yellow River near today's Tianjin, and transported by water.

In order to march to Lingnan and solve the difficulty of transporting grain and troops, Qin Shihuang ordered Shi Lu to dig Lingqu (in today's Xing'an, Guangxi, named after its dexterous engineering) on ​​the Xiangshui and Lishui water ridges in 219 BC.This sluice canal is a great invention of the working people in ancient my country.The earliest ship lock in the West was built in Holland in 1375. The basic design principle of the Panama Canal, which was opened to navigation in 1914, is also the same as that of Lingqu.Lingqu was built in 214 BC, more than 1,000 years earlier than the west.After the completion of the Lingqu Canal, the first emperor conscripted fugitives, son-in-laws, and Jia people to attack Nanyue (now the Lingnan area) and set up Guilin (the county is located in the southwest of Guiping, Guangxi), Nanhai (the county is in today’s Guangzhou, Guangdong), and Xiangjun (the county is in today’s Guangzhou). Chongzuo, Guangxi) moved 500,000 criminals to Wuling, where they lived together with Yue people, which promoted national integration.

The fourth sea voyage was in the thirty-seventh year of Qin Shihuang (210 BC).In October, the first emperor toured the east, and went south to Jiuyi (Yi Mountain, also known as Cangwu Mountain, in the south of Ningyuan County, Hunan Province, where it is said that Yu Shun was buried here), worshiped Yu Shun, floated down the Yangtze River, and passed through Danyang (now Dangtu East, Anhui), Qiantang (now Hangzhou, Zhejiang), crossed Zhejiang, climbed Kuaiji Mountain, worshiped Dayu, looked at the South China Sea (now East China Sea), and erected stones to praise virtue.When returning to the north, he passed through Wudi, crossed the river from Jiangcheng (now the north of Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province), and went north to Langye by sea boat to Chengshan and Zhifu.When he arrived in Pingyuanjin (now south of Dezhou, Shandong), he fell ill.In July (October is the beginning of the year), he died in the Dune Palace (now northwest of Guangzong, Hebei).

Not long after Qin Shihuang unified the country, he worked tirelessly to cruise the sea many times for his political, military, and economic purposes.At this time, Qi, Yan, Yue and other coastal areas were newly established, and the survivors of the six countries were full of hatred and tried to restore the country. Qin Shihuang had to go to various places to understand the situation, carry out recruiting work, and strengthen the rule to prevent political instability.Qin Shihuang wrote on the inscription on Mount Tai: "Peace the world and be unremitting in governance." He immigrated to change customs and garrisoned coastal defense.For example, he forcibly relocated the Yue people to the Jiang, Huai, Xu, and Si areas, and moved the inland prisoners to Yue to reclaim wasteland and farm land.Carved stones and erected monuments to show off its might and virtue, and used the economic and navigational power of the coastal areas to support the military needs of border defense.Not only to develop the economy outside the Central Plains, but also to seek economic benefits overseas through coastal ports.After Qin Shihuang unified Lingnan, he obtained "Yuezhi rhinoceros horn, elephant teeth, jadeite, and pearls".Qin Shihuang sailed on rivers, rivers, lakes, and seas many times. It would have been impossible without the more developed shipbuilding and navigation industry than the previous generation.Therefore, the Qin Dynasty ushered in a new era of my country's shipbuilding and navigation industry.