Chapter 43 Section 3 Water Transport and the Grand Canal in Dadu of Yuan Dynasty

The Yuan Dynasty not only built a world-famous metropolis, but also made important contributions to the development of water transportation in the metropolis.In the Jin Dynasty, a sluice river was opened in the north of Zhongdu City, and it went down to Tongzhou to connect with the Baihe River (now the North Canal). It was originally planned to use the Lugou River (now Yongding River) as the water source, but the Lugou River rose and fell sharply, and the height difference between it and Tongzhou was also large. , It is very easy to cause floods, and it is difficult to guarantee the use of other water sources, so that the Zha River has a false name.In the Yuan Dynasty, Guo Shoujing's design was adopted, and springs such as Baifu and Shuangta were diverted from Changping. The navigation conditions were improved, and the name was changed to Tonghui River, which is the southern line of the Beijing Canal.In addition, in the Yuan Dynasty, there was also a dam river of the northern canal, which was similar to the Zha river. There were seven dams along the line, which were called Futong seven dams.That is to say, the water is diverted from Jishuitan, passing through the Bell Tower in the east to Guangxi Gate and exiting the city in the south. The following river course still exists today.The location of the seven dams can also be restored. The westernmost Qiansi dam is near Guangxi Gate, and the south of Mennei Street is the Qiansi Cang, which occupies a large area.In the Yuan Dynasty, the Jinkou River was excavated to transport wood and stone from the Western Mountains, but it stopped shortly thereafter, because the Lugou River was "turbulent, blocked with sand and mud, and the boats were not feasible. When the digging was started, the people's houses and tombs were destroyed, and the husbands were seriously injured. The crowd, and the cost is not cheap, and the rate is useless" ("Yuan History · Hequ Zhi" Volume 66).

The Yuan Dynasty not only developed water transportation near the capital, but also built the Grand Canal running through the north and south in order to obtain food supplies in the south. Part of it was to use the old waterway opened in the Sui Dynasty, that is, the south of Huaiyin in Jiangsu and the border of Shandong today. A section from Qing to Hebei and Tianjin.In the Sui Dynasty, the north-south section of the canal met at Banzhu, east of Luoyang. In the Yuan Dynasty, a north-south straight line was connected between Linqing and Huaiyin, and the Huitong River and Jeju River were excavated. The terrain and water system of the section of the Huitong River are complex , The gate and dam project costs a lot, and the river course is often shallow and astringent, which is difficult to withstand heavy loads.At that time, the Yellow River had moved south to the sea in Jiangsu. The south of Xuzhou can use a section of the Yellow River, and the south of Huaiyin can follow the past waterway for a little processing.It is worth noting that in order to strengthen the transportation of grain from the south to the north, the Yuan Dynasty also vigorously developed sea transportation, and also dug the Jiaolai Canal between Jiaozhou Bay and Laizhou Bay on both sides of the Shandong Peninsula to avoid risks on the east side of the peninsula and shorten the voyage. However, the transportation volume was small and the effect was not great, so it was abandoned later.

For the land transportation line centered on Dadu, you can refer to the article "Names of Stations in the World" in "Analysis of Jin Zhi" edited by Yuanren.This book has long been lost, and later the reprinted parts were collected from other books and became the book "Analysis of Jin Zhi Ji Yi". Some of the station names also recorded the directions and mileages, which are quite detailed.