Chapter 42 Section 2 Formation of the downstream embankment

In the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, a rather funny story happened in the lower reaches of the Yellow River in Jizhong, Hebei Province. The powerful Qi State ceded a piece of land bordering Yan State in this area to the weak Yan State.The ins and outs of the land cession are roughly as follows: In the thirteenth year of King Hui of Zhou (664 BC), the Shanrong people who lived scattered in Yanshan and other places went south to harass Yan.Duke Huan of Qi agreed to the request of Duke Zhuang, the king of Yan, and led the Qi army to defeat Shanrong.Duke Zhuang was very grateful. When Duke Huan returned home triumphantly, he bowed and sent him far away, unknowingly sending him out of the border of Yan State and into the territory of Qi State.Duke Huan gave the land of Qi where Lord Yan had arrived to the State of Yan.

The reason why Duke Huan of Qi ceded his land to the State of Yan is of course related to the policy of "respecting the king" that he was vigorously implementing at that time to coerce the emperor to order the princes.The emperor of Zhou stipulated that the princes must go abroad to greet and see off the emperor; princes should not go abroad to greet and see off the emperor.Duke Huan knew that in order to prove that he was truly "respecting the king", he had to abide by this rule, and he must not pretend to be the emperor and let Yan Jun be sent out of the country, otherwise, the princes would think that his call to "respect the king" was a scam.However, the fact at that time was that Lord Yan had already sent him out of the country and into the territory of Qi.Under such circumstances, in order to show that Qi and Yan did not deviate, Duke Huan had no choice but to cede the Qi land that Lord Yan entered to the State of Yan.Duke Zhuang sent Duke Huan away. It was a very grand action. Why did mistakes occur and go beyond the national border? Of course, it was not that Qi and Yan violated the king's regulations on purpose. The course of the lower reaches of the Yellow River is very chaotic, and it is divided into many streams (called "Nine Rivers" in "Yugong") and flows into the sea, and its main channel often swings from north to south.At that time, the lower reaches of the Yellow River were very unstable mainly because the dikes on both banks had not yet been built.

Since the Spring and Autumn Period, the use of iron tools has become more and more popular, and social productivity has increased significantly. It has become possible to further develop land and expand the area of ​​cultivated fields.At the same time, because the population is also increasing, people also need to increase arable land.In the area near the river in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, the soil is loose and fertile, which is very suitable for the growth of crops, so people come here to build homes and reclaim farmland.At the same time as setting up a family and starting a business, people are also here on both sides of the Yellow River, gradually building the Yellow River embankment according to local conditions, from west to east, from small to large, from part to whole.

According to limited data, the construction of embankments on the lower reaches of the Yellow River had begun in the Spring and Autumn Period, especially in the westward area of ​​the lower reaches, which is equivalent to today's eastern Henan, western Shandong, and southern Hebei.And there were some disputes.Therefore, at the alliance meeting of some princes at that time, some regulations on embankment had to be made for the construction of river embankments in this area.For example, in 651 BC, under the auspices of Duke Huan of Qi, at the Kuiqiu (Song, east of Lankao, Henan) alliance attended by the princes of Qi, Song, Lu, Wei, Zheng, Xu, Cao, etc., a "law" was formulated. The covenant of "no war defense" requires the participating princes to abide by it.That is to say, when the princes of various countries build embankments on both sides of the Yellow River in their own countries, they must follow the natural flow of the Yellow River, and cannot use embankments to divert the Yellow River to neighboring countries.At the international meeting of the princes, such regulations were made on the construction of the Yellow River embankment, which reflects that the princes in this area are building river embankments one after another, and using the embankment for "beggar-thy-neighbor" activities.

In the middle period of the Warring States period, Qi, Wei, and Zhao, among the seven heroes, had a section of national boundaries bounded by the Yellow River.Qi is in the southeast, and the terrain is low. In order to prevent the river from filling the Qi, a long embankment of the Yellow River was built not far from the river.Although the terrain of Wei and Zhao is slightly higher than that of Qi, because Qi built a long embankment, the Yellow River overflowed, and the flood was bound to overflow into their own borders. In the distance, a long embankment was built.In this way, the north and south dikes on the lower reaches of the Yellow River were built one after another during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.

Due to the construction of this north-south embankment, the main stream of the lower reaches of the Yellow River was formally formed, and the riverbed was relatively stable.Roughly speaking, this section of the main stream starts from Xingyang in Henan Province in the west, goes northeast, passes through the present counties of Junxian, Puyang, and Neihuang, and enters Daming and Guantao in present-day Hebei Province, Linqing, Gaotang and Hebei Province in Shandong Province. Dezhou, as well as Cangzhou and Huanghua in Hebei Province, flow into the Bohai Sea.The embankment was built, the river bed was stabilized, the flood was controlled, and more people settled down in this area. Therefore, the appearance of the Jizhong Plain, which was originally a less populated village, gradually changed. Today’s County), Rao (today’s northeast of Raoyang), Gaoyang (today’s east of Gaoyang), Wusui (today’s northwest of Xushui County), Wuyuan (today’s southeast of Suning County), Pingyuan (today’s south of the plain) Maiqiu (today’s Shanghe Northwest), Rao'an (northwest of Yanshan County today) and nearly 20 cities.The construction of the embankment created conditions for the development of this area.