Chapter 10 Section 4 Yongji Canal leading to Zhuojun in the north

In the Sui Dynasty, the northeastern part of Henan Province, the southeastern part of Shanxi Province, and most of Hebei Province were another area with a developed economy and a large population. At that time, there were more than 2 million households in this area, which accounted for almost 1/4 up.In the Sui Dynasty, the system of rent and mediocrity was implemented, and millet and silk were levied according to households and households, and labor was collected. If there were more households and more households, more millet and silk would be raised.This requires a waterway for transporting grain and silk from the south to Beijing.Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty wanted to open up the frontier and actively prepared to send troops to Liaodong. He used Zhuojun (now Beijing) as a base for conquering Liao. He wanted to transport a large amount of military supplies and military personnel to the north. supply line.Since the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, after Cao Cao drilled the Five Canals in Hebei, although a waterway was formed there, running through the north and the south, it was mainly a natural river course with different depths and poor navigation routes, which could not meet the economic, political and military needs of the Sui Dynasty.Therefore, after completing the Tongji Canal and Shanyangdu, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty decided to expand a canal with greater shipping capacity north of the Yellow River on the basis of Cao's old waterway, which is the Chuanyongji Canal.

In the fourth year of Daye (608 A.D.), more than one million men and women were issued in the counties of Hebei, and the Yongji Canal was opened to divert Qinshui to the river in the south and connect Zhuojun in the north. When Cao Cao developed Hebei water transportation, the headwork of Baigou was to "stop Qi water from entering Baigou".Compared with Cao Cao's old canal, Emperor Sui Yang's new canal has two major improvements.One is that Qinshui has a long history, and Qishui cannot compare with it. Therefore, the water source of the new canal is far more abundant than the old canal.This is the basic factor that the channel of the new canal is much smoother than that of the old canal.The second is that the old canal has a weir built between the Baigou and the Yellow River. From the ditch to the river or from the river to the ditch, boats and boats have to dam or change boats, which greatly reduces the navigation capacity.The new canal "leads Qinshui to the river in the south and connects to Zhuojun in the north", which shows that there is a water diversion project at the mouth of the canal, and boats can directly enter and exit the canal without changing boats or damming, which greatly improves the navigation capacity.

Yongji Canal can also be divided into three sections.The southern section starts from the place where Qinshui flows into the river, and ends in Weixian County in the north (where the government is located in the west of Junxian County, Henan Province).This was a newly dug channel at that time.Below Weixian County, it passes through Guantao, Dongguang and other places, until now the border of Tianjin City meets Guhe River.This is the middle section, which is based on the old road of Cao Cao and expanded into Daqu.From today's Tianjin City to Guzhuojun (now Beijing) is the northern section, which was formed by transforming two natural rivers.One is the lower reaches of the ancient Lu River, which is located between today's Tianjin City and Wuqing County.The other is the lower reaches of Sanggan River (now Yongding River). At that time, it was located in the southern suburbs of Wuqing County to Guzhuo County.The south, middle and north sections of the canal have a total length of about 1,900 miles, roughly equivalent to the Tongji Canal.This is also a canal that lasted very short and was completed in less than a year.Although it is not as wide as the Tongji Canal, it has a strong transport capacity and can sail huge dragon boats.In the seventh year of Daye (611 A.D.), Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty attacked Liaodong. At that time, he arrived in Zhuojun by dragon boat.More than 1 million troops were dispatched to conquer Liaodong, and the logistics supply and transportation were huge, mainly transporting northward along this waterway.

Guangtong Canal, Tongji Canal, Shanyangdu Canal, Jiangnan River, and Yongji Canal are five canals, but because their specifications are roughly the same, they form a fan-shaped canal with Chang'an-Luoyang as the central axis and southeast canal. The complete canal network from Yuhang, northeast to Zhuojun is actually five components of one canal.This network of canals closely connected the most economically, politically, and culturally developed areas of our country at that time, and played an inestimable role in the consolidation and prosperity of the unified country.It is precisely because of this that although Emperor Sui Yang built these projects based on his own needs and caused serious disasters to the masses at that time, later generations still gave them a high evaluation.Pi Rixiu, a famous poet in the late Tang Dynasty, thought so, saying in "Bianhe Nostalgia":

"During the end of the Sui Dynasty, this river has been used for thousands of miles to this day. If there is no matter of dragon boats and water palaces, there will not be much meritorious deeds with Yu. "