Chapter 22 Section 3 Longest Canal Navigation

In addition to Lingqu, my country occupies an important position in the history of inland waterway shipping in the world, and there is also a famous canal, which is the longest Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal in the world.This canal is connected to the Haihe River in the north and the Qiantang River in the south, connecting the five major water systems of the Haihe River, the Yellow River, the Huaihe River, the Yangtze River and the Qiantang River into a unified water transportation network.This is a miracle by the working people in ancient my country to transform nature. Most of the big rivers in our country flow horizontally from west to east.In the absence of modern land transportation, it is necessary to develop a waterway that runs through the north and south.Especially after the end of the split between the Northern and Southern Dynasties and the realization of national unification in the Sui Dynasty, it became even more necessary.At that time, the political and military center of the Sui Dynasty was in the north, while the economy of the Jianghuai region in the south had developed greatly.A large part of the materials needed by northern cities, especially food, depended on the supply of the Jianghuai region.How to continuously transport these grains to the northern region is a major problem that must be solved before the ruling class.A large amount of materials have to be transported from the Jianghuai River to Chang'an, and even to the important military towns on the northern frontier. What transportation method should be used?At that time, there were only mules, horses, carts and people on shoulders for land transportation. The transportation speed was slow, the transportation volume was small, and the cost and consumption were very high, which could not meet the needs of the ruling class.This task can only be accomplished by waterway transportation.Therefore, digging canals at that time was the need of the times and the necessity of history, and the tyrant Yang Guang, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, should not be regarded as the main reason for his extravagance and love of entertainment.

But the difficult project of digging the canal turned out to be a disaster for the working people.Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty forced millions of migrant workers to build the canal, which severely disrupted production and caused tens of thousands of migrant workers to die tragically on the canal construction site.In the "Kaihe Ji" written by Han Xie (wo Wo), a literati in the late Tang Dynasty, the miserable life of the migrant workers who repaired the river was described.It is written in the article that Emperor Sui Yang sent the cruel official Ma Shumou to be in charge of repairing the river, forcing all men over the age of 15 to serve in the army, and a total of 3.6 million people were conscripted.At the same time, one person from five families, old, young, or female, was selected to provide food and cooking for migrant workers.Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty also dispatched 50,000 burly men, each carrying a stick, as supervisors to urge the migrant workers to work.Because the labor burden is heavy, the supervisors are too urgent to supervise and beat them with sticks at every turn, so in less than a year, 3.6 million migrant workers died as many as 2.5 million.

In the history of our country, the excavation project of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal has mainly gone through three periods: The first period is the Spring and Autumn Period of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.Fu Chai, the king of Wu Kingdom in the southeast, diverted the Yangtze River water through Guazhou (now south of Hanjiang County, Jiangsu Province) to Huaihe River in 486 BC in order to fight for hegemony in the Central Plains and expand his power to the north.This canal connecting the Jiang and Huai Rivers, from Guazhou to Mokou (near Huai'an today), was called Hangou at that time, about 150 kilometers long.This canal is the origin of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, and it is the earliest section of the Grand Canal.Later, the Qin, Han, Wei, Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties extended the river course one after another.

The second period is the Sui Dynasty.From the end of the sixth century to the beginning of the seventh century, it was generally widened and straightened on the basis of Hangou to form the middle section of the Grand Canal, named Shanyangdu.To the south of the Yangtze River, the Jiangnan Canal was completed, which is the southern section of the Grand Canal.In fact, the prototype of the Jiangnan Canal already exists, and it has long been used for water transportation. "Cao" means to use the waterway to transport the rice to the centralized place.Water transportation is an important economic system in the history of our country. In today's words, it is a professional transportation of grain (mainly public grain) using waterways (river or sea).The feudal dynasties in our country collected land rent and land taxes from peasant households. For a long time, they adopted the method of expropriating in kind.Most of these dynasties established their capitals in the northwest and northern cities, and the grain produced in the nearby areas could not meet the needs of the capital.Therefore, it became an important political measure to transport the grain levied in other areas to the capital, which was valued by the feudal rulers.In this case, water transportation has formed a relatively complete system in the history of our country, and has a corresponding management system.The boat used by Cao is called Cao Chuan.The grain and rice carried by the boats are called Caoliang and Caomi.The army and migrant workers who drive the water boats are called Cao Jun, Cao Ding and Cao Fu.Many dynasties have officials in charge of water transportation.As far back as the Qin and Han dynasties, there were already records about water transport in the history books of our country, and in the Sui Dynasty, water transport had further development.

In 605 AD, Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty ordered the digging of a Grand Canal running from north to south.At this time, Tongji Canal and Yongji Canal were mainly excavated.The Tongji Canal project on the south bank of the Yellow River is to divert the water of the Yellow River near Luoyang, travel to the southeast, enter the Bian River (now buried), and connect the water transportation of the two major rivers of the Yellow River and the Huaihe River.Tongji Canal, also known as Yuhe Canal, is the beginning of the waterway communication of the Yellow River, Bianshui River and Huaihe River.The capital city of the Sui Dynasty was Chang'an, so the main water transportation route at that time was: cross the Yangtze River along the Jiangnan Canal to Jingkou (now Zhenjiang), then go north along Shanyangdu, then turn into Tongji Canal, go up the Yellow River and Weihe River, and finally arrive at Chang'an .The Yongji Canal dug north of the Yellow River uses the Qinshui, Qishui, Weihe Rivers and other rivers as water sources to divert water for navigation, and uses Lugou (Yongding River) in the northwest of Tianjin to reach the canal in Zhuojun (now Beijing).

Let's introduce several important projects of the Sui Dynasty to build the Grand Canal: One is to excavate the Guangtong Canal to the east of the Yellow River.An important canal started to be built in the Sui Dynasty is the Guangtong Canal from Chang'an to the Yellow River.At the beginning of the Sui Dynasty, Chang'an was the capital.From the east of Chang'an to the Yellow River, there were two waterways in the Western Han Dynasty, one was the natural river Weishui, and the other was the artificial river Caoqu built in the Han Dynasty.The Weishui River is shallow and sandy, and the river is curved, making navigation inconvenient.Since the Eastern Han Dynasty moved the capital to Luoyang, the Caoqu was in disrepair and had long been abandoned.In the Sui Dynasty, only new canals were dug from scratch.In the first year of Emperor Kaihuang (581 A.D.), Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty ordered General Guo Yan to be the supervisor of Kaicao Canal, responsible for improving the water transportation between Chang'an and the Yellow River.However, the completed Fumin Canal was still unable to meet the needs of transporting grain from east to west, and had to be rebuilt three years later.This reconstruction required that the channel be dug deep and wide so that the "Giant Ark" could be navigated.The reconstruction work was presided over by Yu Wenkai, an outstanding engineering expert.With the efforts of the hydraulic engineers, the project progressed smoothly and was completed that year.The new canal still uses the Weishui River as the main water source. It is more than 300 miles long from Daxing City (now Xi'an City) to Tongguan, and it is named Guangtong Canal.The transportation volume of the new canal is much higher than that of the old canal, and besides being able to meet the needs of Guanzhong, there is still a lot of surplus.

The second is to renovate the Yuhe River in Nantong Jianghuai.After Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty ascended the throne, the political center moved from Chang'an to Luoyang. It was necessary to improve the water transportation between the Yellow River, Huai River, and Yangtze River, so as to transport grain from the south to the north and strengthen the control of the southeast region.In the first year of Daye (605 A.D.), Yu Wenkai was ordered to be responsible for the construction of Luoyang, Tokyo, and serve 2 million people every month.At the same time, he also ordered Shangshu Youcheng Huangfu to discuss, "Send more than a million men and women in the counties of Huaibei, Henan, and open the Jiqu" ("Tongjian Sui Ji 4").In addition, more than 100,000 migrant workers from Huainan were recruited to expand Shanyangdu.The scale and scope of the project are unprecedented.Tongji Canal can be divided into east and west sections.The western section was expanded on the basis of Yangqu in the Eastern Han Dynasty, starting from the west of Luoyang in the west, using Luoshui and its tributary valley water as the water source, passing through the south of Luoyang City, to the southeast of Yanshi, and then entering the Yellow River along Luoshui.The eastern section starts from Banzhu (Zhuzhu) on the edge of the Yellow River in the northwest of Xingyang in the west, with the water of the Yellow River as its water source, passing through today's Kaifeng City and Qixian County, Suixian County, Ningling, Shangqiu, Xiayi, Yongcheng and other counties, and then southeast, It passes through Suxian County, Lingbi County, Si County in Anhui Province, and Sihong County in Jiangsu Province, and then flows into Huai River in Xuyi County.The total length of the two sections is nearly 2,000 miles.Shanyangdu starts from Shanyang (now Huai'an City, Jiangsu Province) on the south bank of the Huai River in the north, goes straight south, and connects to the Yangtze River in the southwest of Jiangdu (now Yangzhou City).The two canals were dug according to uniform standards, and willow trees were planted on both sides, and imperial roads were built, and more than 40 palaces were built along the way.Due to the huge size of the dragon boat, the Yuhe River had to be dug deep, otherwise it would not be navigable.The construction and remediation of Tongji Canal and Shanyangdu went hand in hand. Although the old canals and natural rivers were fully utilized during construction, because they have a uniform width and depth, they mainly relied on manual excavation. Huge and formidable.But it took a very short time, starting in March and finishing in August.Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty immediately boarded a dragon boat from Luoyang, took his concubines, princes, and officials, and traveled south to Jiangdu on thousands of boats.This is a miracle in the history of Chinese and foreign engineering.Of course, the price is extremely high.During the process of digging canals and building ships, "the servants died forty-five".

The third is to build the Yongji Canal connecting Zhuojun in the north.After completing the Tongji Canal and Shanyangdu, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty decided to build another canal north of the Yellow River, namely the Yongji Canal.In the fourth year of Daye (608 A.D.), more than a 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" ("Sui Shu Yangdi Ji").Yongji Canal can also be divided into two sections: the southern section is from Qinhekou to the north, passing through Xinxiang, Jixian, Huaxian, Neihuang (the above belongs to Henan Province), Weixian, Daming, Guantao, Linxi, Qinghe ( The above belongs to Hebei), Wucheng, Dezhou (the above belongs to Shandong), Wuqiao, Dongguang, Nanpi, Cangxian, Qingxian (the above belongs to Hebei), and arrives at Tianjin City; In the Qing Dynasty, Anci in Hebei Province arrived at Zhuojun (now the border of Beijing).Both the north and south sections were completed that year.Like Tongji Canal, Yongji Canal is also a wide and deep canal, with a total length of more than 1,900 miles.How much is the depth, although there is no text, but generally speaking, it is equivalent to Tongji Canal, because it is also a canal for dragon boats.In the seventh year of Daye (611 A.D.), Emperor Yang took a dragon boat from Jiangdu to the north along the canal, took a fleet of ships and troops, traveled both land and water, and finally arrived at Zhuojun.The whole journey is more than 4,000 miles, and it only took more than 50 days, which shows its great navigation capability.

The fourth is to dredge the Jiangnan River running through the Taihu Lake Plain.The history of building canals in the Taihu Plain is very long.In the Spring and Autumn Period, the State of Wu, with the capital Wu (Suzhou City) as the center, dug many canals, one of which led to the Yangtze River in the north, and the other to the Qiantang River in the south. These two artificial waterways running north-south were the earliest Jiangnan River.During the Qin and Han Dynasties, the Three Kingdoms, the Two Jin Dynasties, and the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the river was rehabilitated many times, and it was ordered to be further dredged during the Sui Dynasty.Volume 181 records: "In the winter and December of the sixth year of Daye, the imperial edict crossed the Jiangnan River, from Jingkou to Yuhang, more than 800 miles, and more than ten feet wide, so that dragon boats can pass through. Tour Kuaiji.” Kuaiji Mountain is located in the southeast of Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province. According to legend, Xia Yu once held a meeting of princes in Kuaiji, and Qin Shihuang also climbed this mountain to look at the East China Sea.Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty was so overjoyed that he probably wanted to go to Kuaiji Mountain to imitate the stories of Xia Yu and Emperor Qin.

Canals such as Guangtong Canal, Tongji Canal, Shanyangdu (the latter two were collectively called Yuhe by Emperor Sui Yang), Yongji Canal and Jiangnan River, although they were not excavated at the same time, can be counted as independent transportation channels.However, since these channels all take the political center Chang'an and Luoyang as hubs and radiate to the southeast and northeast to form a complete system, and at the same time, their specifications are basically the same, and they all require ark or dragon boats to be navigable and connected to each other, so it is another Grand Canal.This Grand Canal, which runs from Chang'an and Luoyang to Yuhang in the southeast, and to Zhuojun in the northeast, is the longest canal in ancient and modern China and abroad.Because it runs through the five major water systems of the Qiantang River, the Yangtze River, the Huaihe River, the Yellow River, and the Haihe River, it is very valuable for strengthening the unity of the country and promoting economic and cultural exchanges between the North and the South.

Among the above channels, Tongji Canal and Yongji Canal are the longest and most important sections of the North-South Grand Canal. Starting from Luoyang, they fan out to the southeast and northeast.Luoyang is located on the western edge of the Great Plains of the Central Plains, with a high altitude. The canal project makes full use of the characteristics that the east is low and the west is high, and the natural river flows from west to east. It can not only save manpower and material resources during excavation, but also facilitate the smooth passage of ships during navigation.In particular, these two sections of the canal can make full use of the abundant water of the Yellow River, so that the water source is guaranteed.These two such long channels can make such good use of natural conditions, which proves that the water conservancy science and technology had a very high level at that time.It took six years to excavate the two longest channels.This completes the entire project of the Grand Canal.The Grand Canal in the Sui Dynasty was known as the North-South Grand Canal in history.It runs through the provinces of Hebei, Henan, Jiangsu and Zhejiang.The canal is 30-70 meters wide and more than 2,700 kilometers long. It is one of the greatest projects in the world. The third period is the Yuan Dynasty.After the Yuan Dynasty established the capital of Dadu (now Beijing), it was necessary to transport grain from Jiangsu and Zhejiang to Dadu.But the Grand Canal in the Sui Dynasty stretched northeast and southeast with Luoyang as the center, in the section between the Haihe River and the Huaihe River.In order to avoid detours in Luoyang and straighten the bends, the Yuan Dynasty built Jeju, Huitong, Tonghui and other rivers. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, many sections of the Grand Canal were rebuilt.The following is a detailed introduction to several major projects of canal excavation in the Yuan Dynasty: One is to excavate the Jeju River and the Huitong River.From Dadu (today’s Beijing), the capital of the Yuan Dynasty, to the grain-producing areas in the southeast, most places have access to waterways. Only between Dadu and Tongzhou, and between Linqing and Jeju, there is no convenient waterway, or the original riverway is blocked. , or there is no river at all.Therefore, the key to connecting the north-south waterways is to build new artificial rivers in these two intervals.The canal between Linqing and Jeju was built in two phases during the Yuan Dynasty. The Jeju River was opened first, and then the canal was opened.Jeju in Henan starts from Luqiao Town in the south of Jeju (now Jining City) and ends in the north to Anshan in Xucheng (in today's Dongping County), with a length of 150 miles.People took advantage of the favorable natural conditions and used Wenshui and Surabaya as water sources to build gates and dams and dig channels for water transportation.It will pass through Anshan in Xucheng in Henan Province, connect to Jeju River, dig a canal to the north, pass through Liaocheng, and connect to Weihe River in Linqing, with a length of 250 miles.Like the Jeju River, it has built many dams on the river.After these two sections of the canal are dug, grain ships from the south can pass through Weihe River and Baihe River to reach Tongzhou. The second is to excavate the Dam River and the Tonghui River.Due to the small navigability of the old river, the Yuan Dynasty needed to build a canal with a large transportation capacity between Dadu and Tongzhou, so as to transfer the grain transported by sea and river to Tongzhou to Dadu.So the Ba River and the Tonghui River were excavated one after another.The first Bahe River to be built starts from Guangxi Gate of Dadu in the west (now north of Dongzhimen in Beijing, where the main granary was located in those days), goes east to the north of Tongzhou City, and connects with Wenyu River.This waterway is about 20 kilometers long, and the terrain is higher in the west and lower in the east, with a gap of about 20 meters, and the gradient of the river is relatively large.In order to preserve the river water and facilitate the navigation of grain ships, seven gates and dams were built on the river, so this canal is called the dam river.Later, due to the insufficient water source of the dam river and the unsmooth waterway, the Yuan Dynasty excavated the Tonghui River.Guo Shoujing, an engineering and technical expert in charge of water conservancy, first tried every means to open up water sources, diverted water to Jishuitan to collect and store it, and then dug a navigable river section from Jishuitan to the east, flowed south through the east side of the imperial city, and went southeast to Wenmingmen (north of Chongwenmen in Beijing today). , East to Tongzhou to connect to Baihe.This new artificial river was named Tonghui River by Kublai Khan.After the completion of the Tonghui River, the Jishuitan became a bustling wharf, and it was very lively. After the completion of several major canal excavation projects in the Yuan Dynasty, today's Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal was formed, with a total length of more than 1,700 kilometers.The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal used many sections of the North-South Grand Canal in the Sui Dynasty. If you take the canal waterway from Beijing to Hangzhou, the former will shorten the voyage by more than 900 kilometers compared to the latter. At present, the famous Grand Canals abroad include the Suez Canal, the Panama Canal, and the Turkmenistan Canal of the former Soviet Union.The length of these canals is not only much shorter than the Grand Canal in my country, but also more than 1,000 years later than the time when the Sui Dynasty dug the North-South Grand Canal.