Volume 127 Treatises 102: Rivers and Canals 2, Yun He

志一百二

Treatise 102.

運河自京師歷直沽、山東，下達揚子江口，南北二千餘里，又自京口抵杭州，首尾八百餘里，通謂之運河。

The Grand Canal runs from the capital through Zhigu and Shandong to the Yangzi estuary—a north–south stretch of over two thousand li—and from Jingkou to Hangzhou a further eight hundred li or so; together these waterways are known as the Grand Canal.

明代有白漕、衛漕、閘漕、河漕、湖漕、江漕、浙漕之別。清自康熙中靳輔開中河，避黃流之險，糧艘經行黃河不過數里，即入中河，於是百八十里之河漕遂廢。若白漕之藉資白河，衛漕之導引衛水，閘漕、湖漕之分受山東、江南諸湖水，與明代無異。嘉慶之季，河流屢決，運道被淤，因而借黃濟運。道光初，試行海運。二十八年，復因節省幫費，續運一次。迨咸豐朝，黃河北徙，中原多故，運道中梗。終清之世，海運遂以為常。

Under the Ming, grain transport was divided into Bai, Wei, lock, river, lake, Jiang, and Zhe routes. In the Kangxi era Jin Fu cut the Middle Canal to skirt the hazards of the Yellow River: grain fleets now sailed only a few li on the Yellow River before entering the new channel, and the old hundred-and-eighty-li river transport route fell into disuse. Bai transport still drew on the Bai River, Wei transport on the Wei River, and lock and lake transport on the lakes of Shandong and the lower Yangzi region—much as in Ming times. Late in the Jiaqing reign repeated breaches silted the canal, and the state again used Yellow River water to keep transport moving. Early in the Daoguang reign the court experimented with shipping grain by sea. In the twenty-eighth year of his reign, Daoguang ordered one more sea shipment to cut escort costs. Under Xianfeng the Yellow River veered north, turmoil spread across the north China plain, and the canal corridor was cut. For the rest of the dynasty, sea transport became the regular practice.

夫黃河南行，淮先受病，淮病而運亦病。由是治河、導淮、濟運三策，群萃於淮安、清口一隅，施工之勤，糜帑之鉅，人民田廬之頻歲受災，未有甚於此者。蓋清口一隅，意在蓄清敵黃。然淮強固可刷黃，而過盛則運堤莫保，淮弱末由濟運，黃流又有倒灌之虞，非若白漕、衛漕僅從事疏淤塞決，閘漕、湖漕但期蓄泄得宜而已。至江漕、浙漕，號稱易治。江漕自湖廣、江西沿漢、沔、鄱陽而下，同入儀河，溯流上駛。京口以南，運河惟徒、陽、陽武等邑時勞疏濬，無錫而下，直抵蘇州，與嘉、杭之運河，固皆清流順軌，不煩人力。今撮其受患最甚、工程最鉅者著於篇。

When the Yellow River turned south, the Huai bore the first damage—and a sick Huai meant a sick transport system. River control, Huai regulation, and canal relief therefore converged on Huai'an and Qingkou. Nowhere else matched the relentless works, the vast outlays of silver, or the yearly ruin of farms and homes. At Qingkou the aim was to hold clear water against the Yellow River. A strong Huai could scour the Yellow, but too much water threatened the canal dikes; a weak Huai could not feed transport, while Yellow backflow remained a constant fear. Bai and Wei routes chiefly required dredging and breach repair; lock and lake routes needed only balanced storage and release—far simpler problems. Jiang and Zhe transport, by contrast, were regarded as comparatively easy to maintain. Jiang grain came down the Han, Mian, and Poyang from Huguang and Jiangxi into the Yi River, then steamed upstream. South of Jingkou only a few counties such as Tu, Yang, and Yangwu needed periodic dredging; from Wuxi to Suzhou and on to Jiaxing and Hangzhou the water ran clear and true, with little need for labor. This chapter records the stretches that suffered most and demanded the heaviest works.

順治四年夏久雨，決江都運堤，隨塞。六年夏，高郵運堤決數百丈。七年，運堤潰，挾汶水由鹽河入海。八年，募民夫大挑運河。十四年，河督硃之錫言：「南旺南距台庄高百二十尺，北距臨清高九十尺，應遵定例，非積六七尺不準啟閘，以免瀉涸。閉下閘，啟上閘，水凝亦深；閉上閘，啟下閘，水旺亦淺。重運板不輕啟，回空板不輕閉。」從之。十五年，董口淤。之錫於石牌口迤南開新河二百五十丈，接連大河，以通飛輓。先是漳水於九年從丘縣北流，逕青縣入海。至十七年春夏之交，衛水微弱，糧運澀滯，乃堰漳河分溉民田之水，入衛濟運。時河北累年亢旱，部司姜天樞言：「昔僉事江良材欲導河注衛，增一運道，今獨不可借其議而反用之導衛以注河乎？」之錫從其言，並置衛河主簿，著為令。

In the summer of Shunzhi 4 prolonged rain breached the Jiangdu canal dike; it was repaired soon after. In the summer of the sixth year the Gaoyou canal dike gave way for several hundred zhang. In the seventh year the canal dike failed and Wen River water rushed out to sea via the salt route. In the eighth year the government hired laborers for a large-scale canal dredging. In the fourteenth year Director-General of Rivers Zhu Zhixi reported: 'From Nanwang the fall to Taizhuang is one hundred twenty chi and to Linqing ninety. Locks must follow statute: do not open until six or seven chi have built up, lest the channel drain empty. Close the lower gate and open the upper—even sluggish water runs deep; close the upper and open the lower—even a full current can prove shallow. Do not open gates lightly for northbound grain fleets, nor close them lightly for empty southbound craft.' The court approved. In the fifteenth year Dongkou silted up. Zhixi cut a new channel two hundred fifty zhang south of Shipai, linking it to the main stream so rapid transport could pass. Earlier, in the ninth year, the Zhang River had shifted north from Qiu County and reached the sea via Qing County. In the spring of the seventeenth year weak Wei flow stalled grain transport; officials dammed Zhang River water that had been split for irrigation and diverted it into the Wei to feed the canal. Hebei had suffered drought for years. Board official Jiang Tian'ai argued: 'Former Vice Commissioner Jiang Liangcai once proposed diverting the river into the Wei to open another transport line—why not reverse that plan and send Wei water into the river?' Zhixi adopted the plan, appointed a chief clerk for the Wei River, and codified the practice.

康熙元年，定運河修築工限：三年內衝決，參處修築官；過三年，參處防守官；不行防護，致有衝決，一併參處。四年秋，高郵大水，決運堤。五年，運河自儀徵至淮淤淺，知縣何崇倫募民夫濬之。漕督林起龍言：「糧艘北行，處處阻閘阻淺，請飭河臣履勘安山、馬踏諸湖，暨各櫃閘子堤斗門堤岸，及東平、汶上諸泉，有無堵塞，務期濬泉清湖，以通運道。」六年，決江都露筋廟。明年，塞之。十年，決高郵清水潭。明年，再決，十三年始塞。十四年，決江都邵伯鎮。十五年夏，久雨，漕堤崩潰，高郵清水潭、陸漫溝，江都大潭灣，共決三百餘丈。

In Kangxi 1 the court set liability periods for canal works: breaches within three years implicated the building official; after three years, the defending official; if neglect of maintenance caused a breach, both were punished together. In the autumn of the fourth year flooding at Gaoyou breached the canal dike. In the fifth year the canal from Yizheng to the Huai shoaled; Magistrate He Chonglun hired laborers to dredge it. Grain Transport Commissioner Lin Qilong urged: 'Northbound fleets meet locks and shallows at every turn. Order river officials to survey the Anshan and Mata lakes, every lock, auxiliary dike, and sluice, and the springs of Dongping and Wenshang for blockages, and dredge springs and lakes until the route is clear.' In the sixth year the dike failed at the Lujin Temple in Jiangdu. The following year it was repaired. In the tenth year Qingshui Pool at Gaoyou breached. It broke again the next year and was not sealed until the thirteenth year. In the fourteenth year the dike failed at Shaobo Town in Jiangdu. In the summer of the fifteenth year prolonged rain collapsed the canal dike at Qingshui Pool and Luman Ditch in Gaoyou and Datang Bay in Jiangdu—over three hundred zhang in all.

十六年，以靳輔為河督。時東南水患益深，漕道益淺。輔言：「河、運宜為一體。運道之阻塞，率由河道之變遷。向來議治河者，多儘力於漕艘經行之地，其他決口，以為無關運道而緩視之，以致河道日壞，運道因之日梗。是以原委相關之處，斷不容歧視也。又運河自清口至清水潭，長約二百三十里，因黃內灌，河底淤高，居民日患沈溺，運艘每苦阻梗。請敕下各撫臣，將本年應運漕糧，務於明年三月內盡數過淮。俟糧艘過完，即封閉通濟閘壩，督集人夫，將運河大為挑濬，面寬十一丈，底寬三丈，深丈二尺，日役夫三萬四千七百有奇，三百日竣工。並堵塞清水潭、大潭灣決口六，及翟家壩至武家墩一帶決口，需帑九十八萬有奇。」又言：「向因河身淤墊，阻滯盤剝，艱苦萬端。若清口一律浚深，則船可暢行，省費甚多。因令量輸所省之費，作治河之用，請俟運河浚深，船艘通行，凡過往貨物船，分別徵納剝淺銀數分，一年停止。」均允行。

In the sixteenth year Jin Fu was appointed Director-General of Rivers. Flooding in the southeast worsened while the grain route shoaled further. Jin Fu argued: "River control and grain transport should be treated as one system. Canal blockages usually follow shifts in the river channel. Past river planners focused only where grain fleets sailed and neglected other breaches as irrelevant to transport; the main channel deteriorated and the canal followed. Upstream and downstream must never be managed in isolation. From Qingkou to Qingshui Pool, roughly two hundred thirty li, Yellow backflow had raised the bed: villagers faced flooding and grain ships constant delay. I request that the throne order every governor to move this year's tribute grain entirely across the Huai by the third month of the coming year. Once the fleet has passed, close the Tongji dam, mobilize labor, and dredge the canal to eleven zhang wide at the surface, three at the bottom, and one zhang two chi deep, using over thirty-four thousand seven hundred laborers a day and finishing in three hundred days. Also close the six breaches at Qingshui Pool and Datang Bay and the breaches from Zhaijiaba to Wujiadun, at a cost of somewhat more than nine hundred eighty thousand taels." He added: "Previously, because the riverbed was silted up, obstruction, towing, and lightering caused every kind of hardship. Deepening Qingkou would let ships run freely and save large sums. I therefore ask that, once the canal has been dredged deep and boats can pass freely, passing cargo boats be charged a few fen of shallow-water levy according to type, using the saved expense for river works and stopping after one year." The court approved all of it.

十七年，築江都漕堤，塞清水潭決口。清水潭逼近高郵湖，頻年潰決，隨築隨圮，決口寬至三百餘丈，大為漕艘患。前年尚書冀如錫勘估工費五十七萬，夫柳仍派及民間，猶慮功不成。輔周視決口，就湖中離決口五六十丈為偃月形，抱兩端築之，成西堤一，長六百五丈，更挑繞西越河一，長八百四十丈，僅費帑九萬。至次年工竣。上嘉之，名河曰永安，新河堤曰永安堤。是歲挑山、清、高、寶、江五州縣運河，塞決口三十二。輔又請按里設兵，分駐運堤，自清口至邵伯鎮南，每兵管兩岸各九十丈，責以栽柳蓄草，密種菱荷蒲葦，為永遠護岸之策。又言：「運河既議挑深，若不束淮入河濟運，仍容黃流內灌，不久復淤。請於高堰堤工單薄處，幫修坦坡，為久遠衛堤計。」均如所議行。

In the seventeenth year workers built the Jiangdu canal dike and closed the Qingshui Pool breach. Qingshui Pool lay beside Gaoyou Lake and had breached repeatedly; repairs collapsed as fast as they rose, until the gap exceeded three hundred zhang and plagued grain fleets. Two years earlier Minister Ji Ruxi had estimated the repair at five hundred seventy thousand taels, with labor and fascines levied on the people, yet doubted it could succeed. Jin Fu inspected the breach and, fifty or sixty zhang out in the lake, built a crescent embankment closing both ends—six hundred five zhang of west dike plus an eight-hundred-forty-zhang bypass to the west—for only ninety thousand taels. The project finished the following year. The emperor commended the work and named the channel Yong'an ('Ever Peace') and its dike the Yong'an Embankment. That year the canal was dredged across five counties—Shanyang, Qingjiangpu, Gaoyou, Baoying, and Jiangdu—and thirty-two breaches were sealed. He also asked to post troops along the dike from Qingkou to south of Shaobo, each man responsible for ninety zhang on both banks, planting willows, grass, lotus, and reeds as a permanent revetment. He also said: "Once the canal is to be dredged deep, if the Huai is not bound into the river to support transport and Yellow River flow is still allowed to back in, it will silt up again before long. Please buttress the thin sections of the Gaoyan dike works with gentle slopes, as a long-term plan to protect the dike." All was approved and implemented.

十八年，決山陽戚家橋，隨塞。明初江南各漕，自瓜、儀至清江浦，由天妃閘入黃。後黃水內灌，潘季馴始移運口於新莊閘，納清避黃，仍以天妃名。然口距黃、淮交會處僅二百丈，黃仍內灌，運河墊高，年年挑濬無已。兼以黃、淮會合，瀠洄激蕩，重運出口，危險殊甚。至是，輔議移南運口於爛泥淺之上，自新莊閘西南挑河一，至太平壩，又自文華寺永濟河頭起挑河一，南經七里閘，轉而西南，亦接太平壩，俱遠爛泥淺。引河內兩渠並行，互為月河，以舒急溜，而爛泥淺一河，分十之二佐運，仍挾十之八射黃，黃不內灌，並難抵運口。由是重運過淮，揚帆直上，如履坦途。是歲開滾水壩於江都鰍魚骨，創建宿遷、桃源、清河、安東減壩六。

In the eighteenth year the dike failed at Qijia Bridge in Shanyang and was repaired at once. Early in the Ming, Jiangnan grain from Guazhou and Yizheng to Qingjiangpu entered the Yellow River at the Tianfei Lock. When Yellow water backed in, Pan Jixun moved the transport entrance to Xinzhuang Lock to draw clear water and avoid the Yellow, while keeping the Tianfei name. Yet the mouth lay only two hundred zhang from the Yellow–Huai confluence; Yellow water still backed in, raising the canal bed and forcing endless annual dredging. Where the Yellow River and Huai met, swirling currents made the outlet for northbound grain fleets especially dangerous. Jin Fu then proposed shifting the southern entrance above Lanni Shoal: one cut southwest from Xinzhuang to Taiping Dam, another from Wenhua Temple on the Yongji River south through Qili Lock and southwest to the same dam—both routes bypassing Lanni Shoal. Two parallel channels served as mutual bypasses to ease the current; two-tenths of Lanni Shoal's flow fed transport while eight-tenths was aimed at the Yellow, keeping Yellow water out and away from the transport mouth. Northbound grain fleets could then cross the Huai under sail as on open water. That year an overflow dam was opened at Qiuyu Bone in Jiangdu and six relief dams were built at Suqian, Taoyuan, Qinghe, and Andong.

十九年，創建鳳陽廠減壩一，碭山毛城鋪、大谷山，宿遷攔馬河、歸仁堤，邳州東岸馬家集減壩十一。康熙初，糧艘抵宿遷，由董口北達。後董口淤塞，遂取道駱馬湖。湖淺水面闊，纖纜無所施，舟泥濘不得前，挑掘舁送，宿邑騷然。輔因創開皁河四十里，上接泇河，下達黃河，漕運便之。是歲霪兩，淮、黃並漲，決興化漕堤，水入高郵治，壞泗州城郭，特築滾壩於高郵南八里，及寶應之子嬰溝。

In the nineteenth year one relief dam was built at Fengyang Works, works were done at Maochengpu and Dagu Mountain in Dangshan, at Lanma River and Guiren Dike in Suqian, and eleven relief dams on the east bank of Pizhou at Majiaji. Early in Kangxi, grain fleets reaching Suqian continued north through Dongkou. When Dongkou silted up, they routed through Luoma Lake. The lake was shallow and broad: towlines could not grip, boats stuck in mud, and digging and hauling them through threw Suqian into turmoil. Jin Fu therefore cut the forty-li Zao River, linking the Jia River above to the Yellow below, and eased grain transport. Heavy rains that year raised both the Huai and Yellow, breached the Xinghua canal dike, flooded Gaoyou, and damaged Sizhou; overflow dams were built eight li south of Gaoyou and at Ziying Ditch in Baoying.

二十年七月，黃水大漲，皁河淤淀，不能通舟。眾議欲仍由駱馬湖，輔力持不可，親督挑掘丈餘，黃落清出，仍刷成河。隨閉皁河口攔黃壩，於迤東龍岡岔路口至張家莊挑新河三千餘丈，使出皁河，石磡之清水盡由新河行，至張家莊入黃河，是為張庄運口。是歲增築高郵南北滾水壩八，對壩均開越河，以防舟行之險，凡舊堤險處，皆更以石。二十二年九月，黃河由龍岡漫入，新河又淤。隨於石磡築攔黃壩，復設法疏導，旬餘，新河仍暢行。二十三年，上南巡閱河，至清口，以運口水緊，令添建石閘於清河運口。

In the seventh month of the twentieth year a Yellow flood silted the Zao River and blocked navigation. Many urged returning to Luoma Lake, but Jin Fu refused, personally supervised dredging more than one zhang deep until the Yellow dropped and clear water restored the channel. He then closed the Yellow-blocking dam at the Zao mouth and cut a new channel of over three thousand zhang from Longgang east to Zhang Family Village so clear water from Shikan reached the Yellow at Zhangzhuang—the Zhangzhuang transport entrance. Eight overflow dams were added north and south of Gaoyou, each with a bypass channel to ease navigation, and hazardous stretches of the old dike were faced in stone. In the ninth month of the twenty-second year Yellow water poured in at Longgang and the new channel silted again. A Yellow-blocking dam was built at Shikan and dredging resumed; within ten days the new channel was open again. In the twenty-third year the emperor toured the south, inspected the river at Qingkou, and ordered a stone lock added at the Qinghe transport mouth because the current ran too fast.

二十五年，輔以運道經黃河，風濤險惡，自駱馬湖鑿渠，歷宿遷、桃源至清河仲家莊出口，名曰中河。糧船北上，出清口後，行黃河數里，即入中河，直達張庄運口，以避黃河百八十里之險。議者多謂輔此功不在明陳瑄鑿清口下。而按察使于成龍、漕督慕天顏先後劾輔開中河累民，上斥其阻撓。二十七年，復遣尚書張玉書、圖納，左都御史馬齊等往視，亦稱中河安流，舟楫甚便。但逼近黃流，不便展寬，而里運河及駱馬湖之水俱入此河，窄恐難容，應於蕭家渡、楊家莊、新莊各建減壩，俾水大可宣洩；仲家閘口大直恐倒灌，應向東南斜挑以避黃流。詔俟臨閱時定奪。是歲大雨，中河決，淹清河民田數千頃。

In the twenty-fifth year Jin Fu, finding the route through the Yellow River too dangerous, cut a channel from Luoma Lake through Suqian and Taoyuan to Zhong Family Village in Qinghe—the Middle Canal. Northbound grain ships left Qingkou, sailed only a few li on the Yellow River, entered the Middle Canal, and reached Zhangzhuang—avoiding a hundred eighty li of Yellow River hazards. Many held that this feat ranked with Chen Xuan's opening of the lower Qingkou under the Ming. Yet Surveillance Commissioner Yu Chenglong and Grain Transport Commissioner Mu Tianyan impeached Jin Fu for burdening the people; the emperor rebuked them for obstruction. In the twenty-seventh year Ministers Zhang Yushu and Tuna and Censor-in-Chief Ma Qi inspected the works and reported that the Middle Canal ran smoothly and navigation was easy. They noted that hugging the Yellow River left little room to widen the channel, while water from the local canal and Luoma Lake all fed into it and might overflow; relief dams should be built at Xiaojiadu, Yang Family Village, and Xinzhuang to discharge excess flow; and the straight Zhong Family lock mouth risked backflow, so the outlet should be cut obliquely southeast to avoid the Yellow current. The emperor decreed that these matters would be decided when he inspected in person. Heavy rains that year breached the Middle Canal and flooded several thousand acres of farmland in Qinghe.

明年春，上南巡，閱視河工，至宿遷支河口，謂諸臣曰：「河道關係漕運民生，地形水勢，隨時權變。今觀此河狹隘，逼近黃岸，萬一黃堤潰決，失於防禦，中河、黃河將溷為一。此河開後，商民無不稱便，安識日後若何？」圖納、馬齊言：「臣等勘河時，正值大水，懼河隘不能容諸水，故議於迤北遙堤修減壩三，令由舊河形入海。」輔言：「臣意開此河，可束水入海，及濬畢觀之，漕艘亦可行。今若加增遙堤，以保固黃河堤岸，當可無慮。」河督王新命言：「支河口止一鎮口閘，微山湖諸水甚大，遇淫潦不能支，必致潰決。若於駱馬湖作減壩，令漲水入黃，再修築郯城禹王台，以御流入駱馬湖之水，令注沭河，則中河無慮。」上謂可仍開支河，其黃河運道，並存不廢。先是玉書等請閉攔馬河，事下總河，至是新命言：「攔馬河原以宣黃水異漲，似應仍留，水漲則開放，水平則閉，以免中河淤墊。至駱馬湖三減壩，玉書等議留二座於堤內，減水入中河，又恐中河不能容，擬於迤東蕭家渡、楊家莊、新河口量建減壩宣洩。臣謂既以中河不能容，何必留此二壩之水減入中河，復從蕭家渡等處建壩，多此曲折？不若將三壩俱留遙堤外，令由舊河形入海，於蕭家渡三處量留缺口二，酌水勢以宣塞之為愈。郯城沭水口舊有禹王台，障遏水勢，會白馬河、沂河之水入駱馬湖，愈覺泛溢不可遏，應於台舊基迎水處堵塞斷流，令仍由故道入海。」下扈從諸臣確議。惟駱馬湖減壩用玉書等原議，餘如新命言。

The following spring, on his southern inspection of hydraulic works, the emperor reached the Suqian branch channel and told his ministers: "The waterway concerns both grain transport and the people's livelihood; the terrain and water conditions must be managed flexibly according to circumstance. Now, looking at this channel, it is narrow and presses close against the Yellow River bank. If the Yellow River levee were ever breached and defenses failed, the Middle Canal and the Yellow River would merge into one. Since this channel was opened, merchants and commoners have all called it convenient, but who can know what will happen later?" Tuna and Ma Qi said: "When we surveyed the river, it happened to be in major flood. Fearing that the narrow channel could not contain all the water, we proposed building three relief dams on the northern distant embankment so the water would enter the sea along the old river form." Jin Fu said: "My intention in opening this channel was that it could bind the water and send it to the sea; after the dredging was finished, I saw that grain barges could also pass through it. If the distant embankment is now increased and strengthened to protect the Yellow River banks, there should be no cause for concern." River Superintendent Wang Xinming said: "At the branch-channel mouth there is only the Zhenkou sluice, while the waters of Weishan Lake are very large. In prolonged rains it cannot hold them and will certainly breach. If relief dams are built at Luoma Lake to let floodwater enter the Yellow River, and Yuwang Terrace at Tancheng is rebuilt to block the waters flowing into Luoma Lake and make them enter the Shu River, then the Middle Canal will be safe." The emperor ruled that the branch channel should remain in service while the Yellow River shipping route was also preserved. Earlier Zhang Yushu and the others had asked to close the Lanma River. The matter was sent down to the river governor, and now Wang Xinming said: "The Lanma River was originally used to release exceptional rises of Yellow River water. It seems it should still be left in place: when the water rises, open it; when the water is level, close it, so that the Middle Canal is not silted up. As for Luoma Lake's three relief dams, Zhang Yushu and the others proposed leaving two inside the levee to release water into the Middle Canal, but then feared that the Middle Canal could not contain it and planned to build additional relief dams eastward at Xiaojiadu, Yangjiazhuang, and Xinhekou to release it. In my view, if the Middle Canal cannot contain it, why leave the water from these two dams to be released into the Middle Canal and then build dams again at Xiaojiadu and the other places, adding this needless indirection? It would be better to leave all three dams outside the distant embankment and let the water enter the sea along the old river form, while leaving two gaps at Xiaojiadu and the other places and opening or closing them according to the water's force. At the Shu River mouth in Tancheng there was formerly Yuwang Terrace, which blocked the water's force and caused the waters of the Baima and Yi rivers to enter Luoma Lake, making the flooding still more impossible to restrain. The water-facing side of the old terrace site should be closed off, cutting the flow and making the waters again enter the sea by their former course." The emperor ordered the ministers in his entourage to deliberate and settle the dispute. They adopted Zhang Yushu's plan for the Luoma Lake relief dams but otherwise followed Wang Xinming's recommendations.

三十二年，直隸運河決通州李家口等五口，天津耍兒渡等八口。衛河微弱，惟恃漳為灌輸，由館陶分流濟運。明隆、萬間，漳北徙入滏陽河，館陶之流遂絕。至是三十六年，忽分流，仍由館陶入衛濟運。三十八年，廷議改高郵減壩及茆家園等六壩均為滾水壩，增加高堰石工五尺。三十九年，上以清口日淤，恐誤糧艘，海道運津又極艱險，擬以沙船載糧，自江下海，至黃河入海之口，運入中河，則海運不遠。下河督張鵬翮籌議。鵬翮言運河決口已塞，清水又已引出，糧船當可暢達。若改載沙船，雇募水手，徒滋糜費。且由江入海，從黃河海口入中河，風濤不測，實屬難行。從之。初，河督于成龍以中河南逼黃河，難以築堤，乃自桃源盛家道口至清河，棄中河下段，改鑿六十里，名曰新中河。至是，鵬翮見新中河淺狹，且盛家道口河頭灣曲，輓運不順，因於三義壩築攔河堤，截用舊中河上段、新中河下段合為一河，重加修濬，運道稱便。

In year thirty-two the Zhili canal broke in thirteen places, five near Tongzhou's Lijia Mouth and eight around Tianjin's Shua'er Ferry. The feeble Wei River depended entirely on Zhang River water diverted at Guantao to feed the transport channel. During the late Ming the Zhang had shifted north into the Fuyang River, cutting off the Guantao diversion. In year thirty-six the Zhang unexpectedly split anew and once more supplied the Wei and the canal through Guantao. Two years later the court replaced Gaoyou's relief dams and six others, including Maojiayuan, with rolling overflow dams and raised the Gaoyan stonework by five feet. In year thirty-nine, worried that silting at Qingkou would trap grain barges and that the coastal route to Tianjin was treacherous, the emperor proposed loading grain onto sand junks at the Yangtze, sailing to the Yellow estuary, and transshipping into the Middle Canal to shorten the sea leg. He referred the scheme to Zhang Penghe, superintendent of rivers, for evaluation. Zhang Penghe reported that the breaches were closed, clear water had been restored, and the grain fleet could sail unimpeded. Switching to sand junks and hiring seamen, he argued, would merely waste money. The passage from the Yangtze through the open sea and the Yellow estuary into the Middle Canal, he added, was too exposed to storms to be practicable. The emperor accepted his advice. Yu Chenglong had earlier abandoned the lower Middle Canal where it hugged the Yellow River and, from Shengjiadao in Taoyuan to Qinghe, excavated a sixty-li bypass called the New Middle Canal. Zhang Penghe found the New Middle Canal too shallow and its head at Shengjiadao too tortuous for towing; he built a blocking embankment at Sanyi Dam, merged the upper old channel with the lower new cut, dredged the whole line, and restored an easy transport route.

四十年，以湖口清水已出，宜籌節宣之法，允鵬翮請，於張福口、裴家場二引河間，再開引河一，合力敵黃。若黃漲在糧艘已過，堵攔黃壩，使不得倒灌；漲在行船時，閉裴家場引河口，引清水入三汊河至文華寺濟運。是歲建中河口南岸石閘。四十二年，以仲庄徬清水出口，逼溜南趨，致礙運道，詔移中河運口於楊家莊，即大清水故道，由是漕鹽兩利。逾年，又命建直隸運河楊村減壩以分水勢。

In year forty, with clear water again issuing at the lake mouth, the court approved Zhang Penghe's plan to cut a third diversion between Zhangfukou and Peijiazhuang to bolster the fight against Yellow River backflow. When the Yellow surged after the grain convoy had cleared, the blocking dam would be closed to prevent reverse flow; if the flood caught the fleet still moving, the Peijiazhuang intake would be shut and clear water routed through the San Cha River to Wenhua Temple to sustain shipping. That year they completed a masonry sluice on the south bank of the Middle Canal entrance. In year forty-two, eddying at Zhongzhuang near the clear-water outlet was deflecting the current south and hindering traffic; the court relocated the Middle Canal shipping mouth to Yangjiazhuang on the former main clear-water channel, benefiting both grain and salt transport. A year later he ordered a Yangcun spill dam on the Zhili canal to split flood pressure.

四十四年，上言高堰及運河減壩不開放，則危及堤堰，開泄又潦傷隴畝，宜於高堰三滾壩下挑河築堤，束水入高郵、邵伯諸湖，其減壩下亦挑河築堤，束水由串場溪注白駒、丁溪、草堰諸河入海。令江、漕、河各督勘估，遣官督修。自是淮、揚各郡悉免漫溢之患。四十五年，鵬翮於中河橫堤建草壩二，鮑家營引河處建草壩一，相機啟閉，免中河淤墊。又以運河水漲，堤岸難容，於文華寺建石閘，閘下開引河，自楊家廟、單楊口迄白馬湖，長萬四千八百丈有奇，水漲開放入湖，水涸堵閉。是年，濟寧道張伯行請引漳自成安柏寺營通漳之新河，接館陶之沙河，古所謂馬頰河者，疏其淤塞，使暢流入衛。議未及行。越二年，全漳入館陶，漳、衛合而勢悍急，恩、德當沖受害，乃於德州哨馬營、恩縣四女寺建壩，開支河以殺其勢。

In year forty-four officials warned that keeping the Gaoyan and canal spillways closed endangered the levees, while opening them flooded farmland; they proposed channel works below the three Gaoyan overflow dams to send water into the Gaoyou and Shaobo lakes, and similar works below the relief dams to discharge through Chuanchang Creek into the Baiju, Dingxi, and Caoyan rivers to the sea. The Jiangsu, grain-transport, and river governors were told to survey the works, estimate costs, and oversee construction. Thereafter the Huai and Yang regions were largely freed from catastrophic flooding. In year forty-five Zhang Penghe added two straw dams on the Middle Canal transverse levee and one at the Baojiaying diversion, operating them as needed to keep the canal from silting. When rising canal levels threatened the banks, he built a stone sluice at Wenhua Temple with a fourteen-thousand-eight-hundred-zhang bypass to Baima Lake through Yangjiamiao and Danyangkou, opened in flood and sealed in drought. That year Zhang Boxing, intendant of the Jining circuit, petitioned to divert the Zhang from Cheng'an through the Tongzhang New River into the Sha River at Guantao along the ancient Majia channel, clearing obstructions so it could feed the Wei. The plan was debated but not implemented. Two years on the full Zhang flow returned to Guantao, combining with the Wei in a violent torrent that battered En and De; spill dams at Dezhou's Shaomaying and En County's Sinv Temple and branch channels were built to tame it.

六十年，東撫李樹德請開彭口新河。先是濟寧道某言，彭口一帶有昭陽、微山、西湖，噴沙積於三洞橋內，屢開屢塞，阻滯糧艘，應挑新河、避噴沙，以疏運道。至是，樹德以為言。上曰：「山東運河，自西湖之水流入。前此百姓以為宜開即開，以為宜閉亦閉。開者何意？堵者何意？務悉其故，方可定其開否。不然，虛耗矣。」又曰：「山東運河，全賴湖、泉濟運。今多開稻田，截上流以資灌溉，湖水自然無所蓄瀦，安能濟運？往年東民欲開新河，朕恐下流泛濫，禁而弗許。今又請開新河。此地一面為微山湖，一面為嶧縣諸山，更從何處開鑿耶？張鵬翮到東，將此旨詳諭巡撫，申飭地方，相度泉源，蓄積湖水，俾漕運無誤，自易易耳。」

In year sixty Shandong governor Li Shude petitioned to open the Pengkou New River. A Jining official had earlier reported that sand spitting from Zhaoyang, Weishan, and West lakes kept choking the channel inside Sandong Bridge despite repeated dredging, blocking grain traffic; a new cut was needed to bypass the sand fan. Li Shude now renewed that petition. The emperor said: "The Shandong canal is supplied by water flowing in from West Lake. Locals had long opened or closed channels as they saw fit. What did they hope to gain by opening it? And what did they hope to gain by blocking it? Only when their reasons are fully understood can it be decided whether to open the river. Otherwise the funds will simply be wasted." He also said: "The Shandong canal relies entirely on lakes and springs to support transport. Now many rice fields have been opened, and upstream water is intercepted for irrigation, so the lake water naturally has nowhere to be stored. How can it support transport? In past years the people of the east wanted to open a new channel, but I feared flooding downstream and forbade it. Now they again ask to open a new channel. With Weishan Lake on one side of this place and the hills of Yixian on the other, where else could they dig? When Zhang Penghe reaches Shandong, he should explain this decree fully to the governor, admonish the local officials, survey the springs, and store up lake water so that grain transport is not delayed. That is easily done." Thus ended the imperial address.

雍正元年，河督齊蘇勒偕漕督張大有言：「山東蓄水濟運，有南旺、馬踏、蜀山、安山、馬場、昭陽、獨山、微山、郗山等湖，水漲則引河水入湖，涸則引湖水入槽，隨時收蓄，接應運河，古人名曰『水櫃』。歷年既久，昭陽、安山、南旺多為居民占種私墾。現除已成田不追外，餘俟水落丈量，樹立封界，永禁侵佔，設法收蓄。至馬踏、蜀山、馬場、南陽諸湖，原有斗門閘座，加以土壩，可收蓄深廣，備來年濟運之資。惟獨山一湖，濱臨運河，一線小堰，且多缺口。相度水勢，河水盛漲，聽其灌入湖中；湖、河平，即築堰堵截；河水稍落，不使湖水走泄涓滴。或遇運河淺塞，則引湖水下注，庶幾接濟便捷。至諸湖閘座，仍照舊例，灌塘積水，啟閉以時，則湖水深廣，運道疏通矣。」下所司議行。

In Yongzheng 1 Qi Sule and Zhang Dayou described Shandong's chain of storage lakes—from Nanwang, Mata, and Shushan to Weishan and beyond—as ancient "water cabinets" that filled from the river in flood and fed the canal in drought. Decades of encroachment had turned much of Zhaoyang, Anshan, and Nanwang into private farmland. They would not dispossess established fields but would survey the remaining lakebed after drawdown, mark boundaries, forbid further encroachment, and restore storage capacity. Mata, Shushan, Machang, and Nanyang still had sluice towers and could be deepened behind earthen dams to stock water for the coming transport season. Dushan Lake alone, pressed against the canal by a thin, broken embankment, needed special attention. When the river ran high, they would let it fill Dushan; when levels equalized, they would seal the embankment; and as the river fell they would hold every drop in the lake. Stored water could then be released whenever the canal ran shallow. Maintaining the traditional sluice regimen, they argued, would keep the lakes full and the transport channel open." The court referred the plan to the appropriate agencies for action.

二年，齊蘇勒以駱馬湖東岸低洼易泄，舊壩不足抵禦，於湖東陸塘河通寧橋西高地築攔河滾壩，再築攔水堤六百丈，口門寬三十丈，以便宣洩。又幫築運河西岸地洞口堤身五百十丈，高、寶、江東西岸堤工五千二十四丈，寶應西堤七里閘迤南至柳園頭埽工五百七十丈。

In Yongzheng 2 Qi Sule reinforced Luoma Lake's low eastern shore with a rolling dam west of Tongning Bridge on the Lutang River and a six-hundred-zhang spill embankment with a thirty-zhang outlet. He also helped repair five hundred ten zhang of west-bank works at the canal intake, more than five thousand zhang of levees around Gaoyou and Baoying, and five hundred seventy zhang of revetment south from Qili Lock to Liuyuantou.

四年，齊蘇勒改種家渡南之舊彭口於十字河，而彭口沙壅積如故。先是侍郎蔣陳錫疏陳漕運事宜，上命內閣學士何國宗等勘視豫東運道，至是覆稱：「山東運河必賴湖水接濟，請將安山湖開濬築堤；南旺、馬踏諸堤及關家壩俱加高培厚，建石閘以時啟閉；其分水口兩岸沙山下，各築束水壩一；汶水南戴村壩應加修築；建坎河石壩於汶水北；恩縣四女寺應建挑壩一；專平運河西岸修復進水關二，東岸建滾壩一；濮州沙河會趙王河處，舊有土壩引河，應修築開濬，其河西州縣，聽民開通水道，匯入沙河，於運道民生，均有裨益；武城及恩縣北岸，各挑引河一。河南運河自北泉而下，歷仁、義、禮、智、信五閘，遏水旁註，愚民不無截流盜水之弊。請拆去五閘，於泉池南口建石堰一，開口門三，分為三渠，築小堤使無旁泄；東西各開一渠，渠各建五閘，分溉民田。小丹河自清化鎮下應開濬築小堤，河東一里開水塘一，石閘三，分為三渠，以小丹河為官渠，東西各一為民渠。其洹河石壩皆已湮廢，宜增修為挑壩。諸泉源應各開深廣，入衛濟運。」下所司議行。五年，東撫塞楞額以柳長河日見淤淺，雖一帶相連，而中有金錢嶺分隔，特開引河二，一從嶺北注安山入湖，一從嶺南出閘口濟運。

In year four Qi Sule relocated the old Pengkou below Zhongjiadu to the Cross River, but sand continued to choke the mouth as before. After Jiang Chenxi's memorial on transport and He Guozong's inspection of the Henan-Shandong canal, the reviewers reported: "The Shandong canal must rely on lake water for support. We ask that Anshan Lake be dredged and embanked; the Nanwang and Mata levees and Guanjia Dam should all be heightened and thickened, and stone sluices should be built to open and close at the proper times; below the sandy hills on both banks of each water-dividing mouth, one training dam should be built; the Dai Village Dam on the southern Wen should be strengthened; a stone dam should be built at Kan River on the northern Wen; one training dam should be built at Sinv Temple in En County; two intake locks should be restored on the west bank of the Zhuanping canal, and one overflow dam should be built on the east bank; where the Sha River meets the Zhao Wang River in Puzhou, the old earthen dam and diversion channel should be repaired and dredged, and the prefectures and counties west of the river should be allowed to open water channels feeding into the Sha River, benefiting both the transport route and the people's livelihood; one diversion channel should be dug on each of the north banks of Wucheng and En County. Below Beiquan, the Henan canal passes through the five locks named Ren, Yi, Li, Zhi, and Xin; by checking water and diverting it sideways, they give ignorant people opportunities to cut off the flow and steal water. We ask that the five locks be removed, that one stone weir be built at the southern mouth of the spring pool, with three gates opened into three channels, and that small levees be built so there is no side leakage; one channel should be opened on each of the east and west sides, with five sluices in each channel, to divide irrigation for the people's fields. The Xiaodan River below Qinghua town should be dredged and given small levees; one pond and three stone sluices should be opened one li east of the river and divided into three channels, with the Xiaodan River as the official channel and one channel each to east and west as people's channels. The stone dams on the Huan River have all become silted and ruined and should be enlarged and repaired as training dams. All the spring heads should be opened deeper and wider so they enter the Wei and support transport." The court again ordered the responsible agencies to act on the report. In year five Governor Saileng'e, finding the Willow Long River silting despite its continuity, cut two diversions around Jinqian Ridge—one north into Anshan Lake, one south through the lock to feed the canal.

八年，河督嵇曾筠言：「宿遷駱馬湖舊有十字河口門，引湖濟運，兼以刷黃。嗣湖水微弱，恐黃倒灌，堵閉河口，又於西寧橋迤西建攔湖壩，因是湖水不通，專資黃濟運，致中河之水挾沙淤墊。今秋山水暴漲，去路遏塞，漫溢橫出。請復十字河舊口門，俾湖水入中河，刷深運道，攔湖壩酌量開寬，俾上游之水，由六塘河入海。」從之。是年始設黃、運兩岸守堤堡夫，二里一堡，堡設夫二，住堤巡守，遠近互為聲援。

In year eight River Superintendent Ji Zengjun said: "Suqian's Luoma Lake formerly had the Cross River mouth, which drew lake water to support transport and also scoured the Yellow River. Later, when the lake water weakened, people feared Yellow River backflow, closed the river mouth, and also built a lake-blocking dam west of Xining Bridge. Because of this, lake water no longer passed through, transport relied solely on the Yellow River, and the Middle Canal's water carried sand and silted up. This autumn mountain floods rose violently, their route was blocked, and they spilled out crosswise. I ask that the old Cross River mouth be restored so lake water can enter the Middle Canal and scour the transport route deeper, and that the lake-blocking dam be widened as appropriate so upstream water enters the sea by the Liutang River." The court approved. That year also saw the first patrol posts every two li along the Yellow and canal banks, each manned by two guards who could call on neighbors for help.

九年，兼總河田文鏡言：「汶南流濟運，向有玲瓏及亂石、滾水三壩。伏秋盛漲，水由滾壩入鹽河，沙由玲瓏、亂石洞隙隨水滾瀉。自何國宗於三壩內增建石壩，涓滴不通，既無尾閭泄水，又無罅隙通淤，致汶挾沙入運，淤積日高。請改壩為徬，建磯心五十六，中留水門五十五，安徬板以資宣洩。又以不能啟閉，別築土堤，名春秋壩。」如所請行。十一年，東撫岳濬言：「東省水櫃，舊有東平之安山湖廢閘四。自國宗議復安山湖水櫃，重築臨河及圈湖堤，修通湖、蛇溝二閘，並於八里灣、十里鋪兩廢閘間建石閘一，曰安濟閘，俱經修竣，仍不能蓄水濟運。緣湖底土疏，非圈堤所能收蓄，均宜修防。其圈湖堤缺，概停補築，以免糜費。」從之。十二年，直督李衛以故城與山東德州、武城毗連，系河流東注轉灣處，向無堤埝，水漲漫溢，勸諭民間儹修土埝，量給食米，以工代賑。東撫岳濬以德州河溜頂沖，於東岸挑新河、建滾壩，兩岸各築遙堤，酌開涵洞，以資宣洩。

In year nine, Tian Wenjing, concurrently director-general of rivers, said: "The southern-flowing Wen supports transport and formerly had the three dams of Linglong, Luanshi, and Gunshui. During the great summer and autumn rises, water entered the Salt River through the rolling dam, while sand rolled out with the water through the gaps at Linglong and Luanshi. Since He Guozong added stone dams inside the three dams, not a drop passes through; with no tail outlet to release water and no gaps to pass silt, the Wen carries sand into the canal and the deposits rise daily. We ask that the dams be changed into side structures, with fifty-six spur cores built, fifty-five water gates left in the center, and side boards installed for release. Because they still cannot be opened and closed, a separate earthen dike has been built, named the Spring-Autumn Dam." The court approved as petitioned. In year eleven Shandong Governor Yue Jun said: "Among the reservoirs of Shandong, Dongping's Anshan Lake formerly had four derelict gates. Since He Guozong proposed restoring Anshan Lake as a reservoir, the riverfront and ring-lake dikes have been rebuilt, the Tonghu and Shegou gates repaired, and one stone gate, called Anji Gate, built between the two abandoned gates at Baliwan and Shilipu. All have been completed, yet they still cannot store water to support transport. Because the lake bed soil is loose, it cannot be impounded by ring dikes; all should receive protective repair. As for gaps in the ring-lake dike, rebuilding them should all be stopped to avoid wasteful expense." The court approved. In year twelve Li Wei of Zhili, noting that Gucheng's bend beside Dezhou and Wucheng had no levees and flooded habitually, organized labor-for-rice dike repairs among local farmers. Governor Yue Jun, facing a head-on current at Dezhou, cut a new channel on the east bank, built a rolling dam and flanking remote dikes, and added culverts for overflow.

乾隆二年，御史馬起元言：「直、東運河，近多淤塞。」尚書來保言：「衛水濟運灌田，請飭詳查地勢，使漕運不阻，民田亦資灌溉。」上命侍郎趙殿最、侍衛安寧，會同直、漕、河三督，豫、東兩撫勘奏。經部議：「東省泉源四百三十九，無不疏通，閘壩亦完固，惟戴廟、七級、柳林、新店、師庄、棗林、萬年、頓庄各閘，或雁翅潮蟄，或面石裂縫，兩岸斗門涵洞，有滿家三空橋雁翅低陷，石閘面太低，應交河督興修。又馬踏、蜀山、馬場、獨山、微山諸湖，嚴禁占種蘆葦，南旺、南陽、昭陽諸湖水櫃，僅堪泄水，小清河久淤塞，均宜次第修治。至衛水濟運灌田，宜於館陶、臨清各立水則一，測驗淺深，以時啟閉。」起元又言，通州至天津河路多淤淺，糧艘不便。命殿最偕顧琮勘議。尋議天津溯流而上，設有兵弁，無官管轄。應增置漕運通判一，駐張家灣，專司疏濬；把總二，外委四，聽通判調遣。又普濟寺等四閘屬通州，增置吏目一，慶豐等七閘屬大興，增置主簿一，遇應開挑處，報坐糧廳覈實修濬。用鄂爾泰言，建獨流東岸滾壩，並開引河，注之中塘窪，以免靜海有羨溢之虞，並減天津三汊口爭流之勢。是歲，大挑淮、揚運河，自運口至瓜洲三百餘里。

In Qianlong year two Censor Ma Qiyuan said: "The Zhili and Shandong canal sections have recently become much silted." Minister Laibao said: "The Wei water supports transport and irrigates fields. Please order a detailed survey of the terrain so that grain transport is not obstructed and the people's fields also receive irrigation." The throne dispatched Zhao Dianzui and Anning, with the canal, river, and provincial governors, to inspect and report jointly. The ministry deliberated: "Shandong's four hundred thirty-nine spring sources are all unobstructed, and its locks and dams are also solid. Only at the Daimiao, Qiji, Liulin, Xindian, Shizhuang, Zaolin, Wannian, and Dunzhuang locks, either wing walls have been damaged by tide and insects or facing stones are cracked; among the culverts and water gates on the two banks, the wings of Manjia Three-Arch Bridge are sunken, and the stone lock face is too low. These should be handed to the river superintendent for repair. Also, reed planting on Mata, Shushan, Machang, Dushan, Weishan, and the other lakes should be strictly forbidden. The reservoirs at Nanwang, Nanyang, and Zhaoyang can only release water, and the Xiaoqing River has long been silted up; all should be repaired in order. As for using Wei water for transport and irrigation, one water gauge should be established at each of Guantao and Linqing to measure depth and open or close according to the time." Ma Qiyuan added that the Tongzhou–Tianjin reach was too shallow for grain barges. Zhao Dianzui and Gu Cong were sent to investigate. Inquiry found soldiers posted on the Tianjin upstream reach but no civil superintendent. They proposed a new transport vice magistrate at Zhangjiawan solely for dredging; with two sergeants and four deputies under his command. Puji Temple's four Tongzhou locks would gain a clerk; Daxing's seven Qingfeng locks a registrar; dredging would be verified through the grain bureau. On Ortai's advice they built a rolling dam east of Duliucun with a diversion into Zhongtangwa to ease Jinghai flooding and Tianjin's triple-mouth current conflict. That year they undertook a major dredging of over three hundred li of the Huai-Yang canal from the transport mouth to Guazhou.

三年，河督白鍾山言：「衛河水勢，惟在相機啟閉。殿最前奏設館陶、臨清二水閘，可不必立。嗣雨水調勻，百泉各渠閘照舊官民分用。儻值水淺澀，即暫閉民渠民閘以利漕運。或河水充暢，漕艘早過，官渠官閘亦酌量下板以灌民田。」是年，修復三教堂減壩，挑濬淤填支河，使泄水入馬頰河。又於三空橋舊址修減壩，仍挑通支河，使泄水入徒駭河。增建裴家口東南涵洞二，修築房家口上下堤岸、馬家閘土堤，及自嶧縣台庄迄臨清板閘運堤八百里纖道，亦資障護瀕河田廬。

In year three River Superintendent Bai Zhongshan said: "The force of the Wei River depends only on opening and closing according to circumstance. The two water gates at Guantao and Linqing, previously proposed by Zhao Dianzui, need not be established. When rainfall is later balanced, the hundred springs and their channels and locks should, as before, be divided between official and popular use. If the water happens to be shallow and sluggish, then temporarily close the people's channels and locks to benefit grain transport. Or if the river water is abundant and the grain boats have passed early, the official channels and official locks may lower boards as appropriate to irrigate the people's fields." That year crews restored the Santang overflow dam and cleared branch channels into the Majia River. They also rebuilt the Sankong Bridge overflow and opened a branch into the Tuhei River. Work added Peijiakou culverts, Fangjiakou and Majia dikes, and an eight-hundred-li towpath from Taizhuang to Linqing, shielding riverside farms and homes.

先是疏濬毛城鋪河道時，高斌以黃流倒灌，移運口於上游七十餘丈，與三汊河接。次年，黃仍灌運，論者多謂新開運口所致，特命大學士鄂爾泰相度。旋言：「運口直對清口，湖水由裴家場引河東北直趨清口，入運之水仍系迴流平緩；惟新口外挑水壩稍短，清水盛旺，或恐溜寬，宜再築長壩，不必仍舊開口。惟舊河直捷，新河紆曲，今新建閘壩未開，漕船應行舊河，以利挽運。新河於天妃閘下重建通濟、福興二閘，隨時啟閉。每歲漕船過後，河水充溢，則開放新河以分水勢，湖水漲溢，則閉舊河及新河閘以待水消，庶新舊兩河可以交用。」

During Maochengpu dredging, Gao Bin had shifted the canal mouth seventy zhang upstream after Yellow backflow, linking it to Sancha River. Next year Yellow water still invaded the canal; critics blamed the new mouth, and Grand Secretary Ortai was ordered to inspect. He soon said: "The transport mouth faces Qingkou directly; lake water runs northeast from the Peijia Field diversion straight toward Qingkou, while the water entering the canal is still a returning current and gentle. Only the training dam outside the new mouth is somewhat short; when the clear water is abundant, there may be concern that the current will widen, so a long dam should be built further, and the old mouth need not be reopened. But the old channel is direct and the new channel winding; until the newly built locks and dams are opened, grain boats should use the old channel to aid towing. On the new channel, Tongji and Fuxing locks should be rebuilt below Tianfei Lock and opened or closed according to circumstance. Each year after the grain boats have passed, if the river water is full, open the new channel to divide the water's force; if the lake water rises and overflows, close the old channel and the new-channel locks until the water subsides. In this way the new and old channels may be used in alternation." Thus ended Ortai's memorial.

鄂爾泰又言：「詳勘漳河故道，一自直隸魏縣北，經山東丘縣城西，至效口村會滏陽河，入大陸澤，下會子牙河，由天津入海。一由魏縣北老沙河，自潘爾庄經丘縣城東，歷清和、武城、景州、阜城各地，過千頃窪，入運歸海。丘縣城西故道去衛河較遠，舊跡既淹，開通匪易。且滏陽河下會子牙河，全漳之水亦難容納。惟老沙河即古馬頰河，河形寬闊，於此挑復故道，自和爾寨村東承漳河北折之勢，開至漳洞村，歸入舊河，勢順工省。即於新挑河頭下東流入衛處建閘，如衛水微弱，則啟以濟運，衛水足用，則閉閘使歸故道；再於青縣下酌建閘壩，臨清以北運道可免淤墊，青縣以下田廬永無浸淹。應飭直、東兩省會勘估修。」五年，改山東管河道為運河道，專司蓄泄疏濬閘壩事，仍管河庫，從白鍾山請也。

Ortai also said: "A detailed survey of the Zhang River's old courses shows one route from north of Wei county in Zhili, past the west of Qiu county city in Shandong, to Xiaokou village, where it joins the Fuyang River, enters Dalu Marsh, then joins the Ziya River and enters the sea by Tianjin. Another runs from the old Sha River north of Wei county, from Pan'erzhuang past the east of Qiu county city, through Qinghe, Wucheng, Jingzhou, and Fucheng, across Qianqingwa, and into the canal to return to the sea. The old course west of Qiu county city is relatively far from the Wei River; its former traces are already submerged, and opening it through would not be easy. Moreover, where the Fuyang River below joins the Ziya River, it would also be difficult to contain all the water of the Zhang. Only the old Sha River, which is the ancient Majia River, has a broad channel form. If the old course is dredged and restored there, receiving the Zhang River's northward turn east of He'erzhai village and opening it as far as Zhangdong village to return to the old river, the current will be favorable and the work economical. At the point where the head of the newly dredged channel flows east into the Wei, build a lock: if Wei water is weak, open it to support transport; if Wei water is sufficient, close the lock and let the water return to its old course. Then build locks and dams as appropriate below Qing county, and the transport route north of Linqing can avoid silting while the fields and houses below Qing county will forever avoid inundation. Zhili and Shandong should be ordered to make a joint survey and estimate repairs." In year five Shandong's canal office became a transport-canal bureau under Bai Zhongshan, charged with impoundment, dredging, and locks while keeping the river treasury.

二十二年，添建高郵東堤石壩，酌定水則，視水勢大小以為啟閉。巡漕給事中海明言：「江南運河，惟桃源之古城砂礓，溜灘灣沙積，黃河以南，惟揚州之灣頭閘至范公祠三千三百餘丈間段阻淺，均應挑濬。鎮江至丹徒、常州，水本無源，恃江潮灌注，冬春潮小則淺。加以每日潮汐易淤，兩岸土松易卸，應六年大挑一次，否則三年亦須擇段撈淺。丹徒兩閘以下，常州之武進等縣，亦間段淺滯，均應一律挑濬。」詔：「挑河易滋浮冒，宜往來查察，毋得屬之委員。」

In year twenty-two Gaoyou gained an east-bank stone dam with gauges set to open and close with the flood level. Censor Hai Ming said: "On the Jiangnan canal, Taoyuan's Gucheng gravel and Liutan Bay sand deposits, and south of the Yellow River the more than three-thousand-zhang shallow stretch from Yangzhou's Wantou Lock to the Fan Shrine, should all be dredged. From Zhenjiang to Dantu and Changzhou, the water has no source and depends on Yangzi tides; when winter and spring tides are small, it becomes shallow. In addition, daily tides easily create silt, and the loose soil on both banks easily collapses. A major dredging should be done once every six years; otherwise shallow sections must be selected and cleared every three years. Below the two Dantu locks and in Wujin and other counties of Changzhou, there are also shallow and sluggish sections, all of which should be dredged uniformly." The edict said: "Dredging rivers easily breeds false claims and inflated charges. Officials should inspect back and forth and must not entrust the work to deputies." Thus ended the imperial edict.

二十四年，命海明及河督張師載、東撫阿爾泰會勘直、東運河。初，運河水漲，漫溢德州等處，景州一帶道路淤阻。至是，海明等言：「漳、衛二河，伏秋盛漲，宜旁加疏泄。自臨清至恩縣四女寺二百五十餘里，河身盤曲，臨清塔灣東岸原有沙河一，即黃河遺迹，由清平、德州、高唐入馬頰河歸海。請開挑作滾水石壩，使汶、衛合流，分泄水勢。四女寺、哨馬營兩支河，原系旁泄汶、衛歸海之路，請將狹處展寬，以免下游德州等處沖溢。」二十五年，巡漕給事中耀海偕師載言：「南旺以北僅馬踏一湖，水患不足。獨山湖有金線閘，水祗南流，利濟閘水可北注。請移金線閘於柳林閘北，使獨山諸湖全注北運河。」制可。二十七年，以魚台辛庄橋北舊有泄水口二，口門刷深，難以節制，允師載等請改建滾壩一。是歲，挑德州西方菴對岸引河，自魏家莊至新河頭，長四十丈，建築齊家莊挑溜埽壩，接築清口東西壩，修李家務石閘。二十八年，用阿爾泰言，於臨清運河逼近村莊處開引河五，以分水勢。

In year twenty-four Hai Ming, Zhang Shizai, and Governor Aertai were commissioned to inspect the Zhili and Shandong canals together. Canal floods had earlier inundated Dezhou and silted roads around Jingzhou. At this time Hai Ming and the others said: "During the summer and autumn rises, the Zhang and Wei rivers should be given additional side drainage. From Linqing to Sinv Temple in En County, more than two hundred fifty li, the river channel twists and turns; on the east bank at Tawan in Linqing there was originally a Sha River, a trace of the Yellow River, which went from Qingping through Dezhou and Gaotang into the Majia River and back to the sea. Please dredge it and make it a rolling stone dam, so the Wen and Wei can join their flows and divide the water's force. The two branch rivers at Sinv Temple and Shaomaying were originally routes by which the Wen and Wei drained sideways and returned to the sea. Please widen the narrow places to prevent Dezhou and other downstream places from being rushed and flooded." In year twenty-five Censor Yao Hai and Shizai said: "North of Nanwang there is only Mata Lake, so the floodwater is insufficiently controlled. Dushan Lake has Jinxian Lock, whose water flows only south, while the water of Liji Lock can pour north. Please move Jinxian Lock north of Liulin Lock, so the Dushan lakes all pour into the northern canal." The throne approved. In year twenty-seven two scoured outlets north of Yutai's Xinzhuang Bridge, impossible to control, were replaced with a rolling dam as Shizai proposed. That year crews dredged a forty-zhang diversion at Dezhou's Xifang'an, built Qijiazhuang training works, extended Qingkou's east-west dams, and repaired Lijiawu stone lock. In year twenty-eight, on Aertai's advice, five cuts were opened where the Linqing canal hugged villages to split the current.

三十三年，黃水入運，命大學士劉統勛等往開臨黃壩，以泄盛漲，並疏濬運河淤淺。三十七年，河督姚立德言：「泗河下流董家口向建石壩分泄，今泗水南趨，轉為石壩所累。請拆去，並展寬孟家橋舊石橋。」如所請行。五十年，命大學士阿桂履勘河工。阿桂言：「臣初到此間，詢商薩載、李奉翰及河上員弁，多主引黃灌湖之說。本年湖水極小，不但黃絕清弱，至六月以後，竟至清水涓滴無出，又值黃水盛漲，倒灌入運，直達淮、揚。計惟有借已灌之黃水以送回空，蓄積弱之清水以濟重運。查本年二進糧艘行入淮河，全藉黃水浮送，方能過淮渡黃，則回空時雖值黃水消落，而空船吃水無多，設法調劑，似可銜尾遄行。」借黃濟運，自此始也。五十一年，運河盛漲，致淮安迤下東岸涇河泄水石閘牆蟄底翻，難資啟閉。越五年，山陽、寶應士民修復之。

In year thirty-three, with Yellow water in the canal, Liu Tongxun's party opened the Linhuang dam and dredged shoals along the route. In year thirty-seven River Superintendent Yao Lide said: "At Dongjiakou on the lower Si River, a stone dam had formerly been built to divide and release the flow; now the Si water turns south and is instead hampered by the stone dam. Please remove it and also widen the old stone bridge at Mengjia Bridge." The court approved as petitioned. In year fifty Grand Secretary Agui was sent to survey the river works in person. Agui said: "When I first arrived here, I consulted Shang Saizai, Li Fenghan, and the officers on the river, and most supported the proposal to draw Yellow River water into the lakes. This year the lake water is extremely low. Not only is Yellow River water cut off and clear water weak; after the sixth month, not a drop of clear water came out. It also happened that Yellow River water was in great flood and backed into the canal, reaching Huai and Yang. The only plan is to use the Yellow River water already brought in to send back the empty boats and to store the weakened clear water to support the loaded transport. Looking at this year's second-entry grain boats, they entered the Huai River entirely by relying on Yellow River water to float them and only thus could cross the Huai and pass the Yellow River. When the boats return empty, although the Yellow River water will be falling, empty boats draw little water; with suitable management, they should be able to proceed one after another quickly." Using Yellow River water for the grain transport began here. In year fifty-one a canal flood wrecked Huai'an's Jing River stone sluice on the east bank, its walls undermined so the gates would not work. Five years on, local gentry in Shanyang and Baoying rebuilt it.

嘉慶元年，河決豐汛，刷開南運河佘家莊堤，由豐、沛北注金鄉、魚台，漾入微山、昭陽各湖，穿入運河，漫溢兩岸。是冬，漫口塞，凌汛復蟄陷。次年，東西兩壩並蟄，二月工始竣。自豐工決後，若曹工、睢工、衡工，幾於無歲不決。九年，因山東運河淺塞，大加濬治；又預蓄微山諸湖水為利運資。然自是以後，黃高於清，漕艘轉資黃水浮送，淤沙日積，利一而害百矣。十二年，倉場侍郎德文等請挑修張家灣正河，堵築康家溝以復運道，御史賈允升請挑濬減河，均下直督溫承惠勘辦。承惠請濬溫榆河上游。上命侍郎托津、英和偕德文等覆勘。尋奏言：「頻年漕運皆藉溫榆下游倒漾之水，以致泥沙淤積。若從上游深挑，直抵石壩，實為因勢利導。惟地勢高下，須逐細測量，俾全河毫無滯礙方善。」制可。

In Jiaqing year one a summer breach at Feng scoured through the South Canal dike at Shejiazhuang, flooding north through Feng and Pei into the lakes and back into the canal. The gap closed that winter but failed again in the spring ice run. The following year both east and west dams gave way; repairs lasted until the second month. After Feng, breaches at Cao, Sui, and Heng became almost annual. In year nine the silt-choked Shandong canal was heavily dredged; and Weishan's lakes were impounded early to feed the route. Thereafter the Yellow stood above the clear channel; the fleet depended on muddy water while silt piled up—gaining little at enormous cost. In year twelve Dewen sought to reopen Zhangjiawan's main channel and seal Kangjiagou; Censor Jia Yunsheng wanted the relief river dredged—both sent to Governor Wen Chenghui. Chenghui proposed dredging the Wenyu upstream. The throne sent Tuojin, Yinghe, and Dewen to reinspect. They soon memorialized: "For several years grain transport has relied on backflow from the lower Wenyu, causing mud and sand to accumulate. If dredging is carried deeply from upstream straight to the stone dam, it will truly guide the current according to its force. Only the rise and fall of the terrain must be measured carefully section by section, so that the whole river has no obstruction at all." The throne approved.

十三年，通州大水，康家溝壩衝決成河，張家灣河道遂淤。倉場侍郎達慶請來年糧艘由康家溝試行一年，暫緩挑復張家灣河身。上命尚書吳璥往勘，與達慶議合，遂允之。明年，御史史祜言，康家溝河道難行，請復張家灣正河。下直督溫承惠。承惠言：「康家溝溜勢奔騰，漕船逆流而上，大費纖輓。該處地勢正高，恐旱乾之歲，河水一瀉無餘，漕行更為棘手。惟張家灣兩岸沙灘，壩基難立，而正河積淤日久，挑濬亦甚不易。」上復遣工部尚書戴均元往勘，亦言壩基難立，且時日已迫，恐河道未復，漕運已來，請仍由康家溝行，再察看一年酌定。如所請行。時淮、揚運河三百餘里淺阻，兩淮鹽政阿克當阿請俟九月內漕船過竣，堵閉清江三壩，築壩斷流，自清江至瓜洲分段挑濬。下部議。覆稱：「近年運河淺阻，固由疊次漫口，而漫口之故，則由黃水倒灌，倒灌之故，則由河底墊高，清水頂阻，不能不借黃濟運，以致積淤潰決，百病叢生。是運河為受病之地，而非致病之原。果使清得暢出敵黃，並分流濟運，則運口內新淤不得停留，舊淤並可刷滌。若不除倒灌之根，而亟亟以挑濬運河為事，恐旋挑旋淤，運河之挑濬愈深，倒灌之勢愈猛，決堤吸溜，為患滋多。」命尚書托津等偕河督勘辦。十八年，漕督阮元以邳、宿運河閘少，水淺沙停，請於匯澤閘上下添建二閘。下江督百齡核奏。

In year thirteen a Tongzhou flood broke Kangjiagou into a new river and silted Zhangjiawan's channel. Director Daqing asked to route next year's fleet through Kangjiagou for a trial year and postpone restoring Zhangjiawan. Minister Wu Jin inspected, agreed with Daqing, and the trial was allowed. The following year Censor Shi Hu declared Kangjiagou unworkable and urged reopening Zhangjiawan's main channel. The case went to Governor Wen Chenghui of Zhili. Wen Chenghui said: "At Kangjiagou the current runs fiercely, and grain boats going upstream spend enormous effort on trackers and towlines. The terrain there is precisely high, and I fear that in dry years the river water will drain away entirely, making passage for grain boats still more difficult. But on both banks at Zhangjiawan are sandy shoals, so dam foundations are hard to establish, and the main river has been silted up for a long time, so dredging it is also very difficult." The throne sent Works Minister Dai Junyuan to inspect; he agreed that no dam could be founded in time and that the fleet might arrive before the old channel reopened, so he urged keeping Kangjiagou for another year while watching conditions. The court approved his request. With over three hundred li of the Huai-Yang canal shoaled shut, Salt Controller Akedang'a asked to wait until September's grain convoy had cleared, then seal Qingjiang's three dams, cut the flow, and dredge section by section down to Guazhou. The proposal went to the ministries for review. The reply said: "Recent shallowing and obstruction in the canal certainly come from repeated overflow mouths; the overflow mouths come from Yellow River backflow; the backflow comes from the raised riverbed and blocked clear water, which makes it necessary to borrow the Yellow River to support transport, producing silt buildup, breaches, and every kind of trouble. Thus the canal is the place suffering the illness, not the source that caused the illness. If clear water can flow out freely to resist the Yellow River and also divide its flow to support transport, then new silt inside the transport mouth will not remain, and old silt can be scoured away. If the root of the backflow is not removed and people rush to make dredging the canal the main task, I fear it will silt up as soon as it is dredged; the deeper the canal is dredged, the fiercer the backflow will become, and breached dikes and sucking currents will create still more harm." Minister Tuojin and colleagues were ordered to inspect the works with the river governor. In year eighteen Director Ruan Yuan, finding the Pi-Su canal short of locks and choked with shallow sand, asked for two new locks above and below Huize. Governor Baoling of the lower Yangtze was told to review and report.

道光元年，山東河湖山水並發，戴村壩迤北堤埝漫決六十餘丈，草工刷三十餘丈，四女寺支河南岸汶水旁泄處三。用巡撫姚祖同言，於正河旁舊河形內抽溝導水濟運，兼顧湖瀦。三年，漫直隸王家莊，由各廳汛賠修。是歲添築戴村壩北官堤碎石壩四。四年，侍講學士潘錫恩陳借黃濟運之弊，略言：「蓄清敵黃，為相傳成法。今年張文浩遲堵御黃壩，致倒灌停淤，釀成巨患。若更引黃入運，河道淤滿，處處壅溢，恐有決口之患。」下尚書文孚等妥議。

Daoguang year one brought concurrent mountain floods in Shandong: north of Daicun Dam the levee breached over sixty zhang, thirty more of fascine work washed away, and three leaks opened on the Sinvsi branch where Wen River water escaped. On Governor Yao Zutong's advice they cut a channel in the old riverbed beside the main stream to feed transport and refill the lakes. Year three saw a breach at Wangjiazhuang in Zhili, repaired at the expense of the local river offices. That same year four stone revetment dams were added on the official levee north of Daicun. Year four Lecturer Pan Xien set out the evils of using Yellow River water for transport, saying in outline: "Storing clear water to resist the Yellow River is the established method handed down from the past. This year Zhang Wenhao was late in closing the Yellow River control dam, causing backflow to settle into silt and brew a great disaster. If Yellow River water is further drawn into the canal, the river channels will fill with silt and overflow everywhere, and I fear there will be breaches." Ministers Wen Fu and colleagues were ordered to deliberate the proposal.

自嘉慶之季，黃河屢決，致運河淤墊日甚，而歷年借黃濟運，議者亦知非計，於是有籌及海運者。五年，上因漕督魏元煜等籌議海運，群以窒礙難行，獨大學士英和有通籌漕、河全局，暫雇海船以分滯運，酌折漕額以資治河之議，下所司及督撫悉心籌畫。卒以黃、運兩河受病已深，非旦夕所能疏治，詔於明年暫行海運一次。

Since late Jiaqing the Yellow River had broken repeatedly, silting the Grand Canal ever higher, while year after year muddy water was used to float grain—a policy critics knew was unsound, which is why some began to urge sea transport. Year five, as Director Wei Yuanyu and others studied sea transport, most officials called it impractical; only Grand Secretary Yinghe proposed a coordinated river-and-canal plan to charter seagoing ships for part of the backlog and trim grain quotas to pay for river works, and the throne told every yamen and province to work out details. Seeing the Yellow River and the transport canal both too badly damaged for quick repair, the court decreed a one-year trial of sea transport the following year.

新授兩江總督琦善言：「臣抵清江，即赴運河及濟運、束清各壩逐加履勘。自借黃濟運以來，運河底高一丈數尺，兩灘積淤寬厚，中泓如線。向來河面寬三四十丈者，今只寬十丈至五六丈不等，河底深丈五六尺者，今只存水三四尺，並有深不及五寸者。舟只在在膠淺，進退俱難。濟運壩所蓄湖水雖漸滋長，水頭下注不過三寸，未能暢注。淮安三十餘里皆然，高、寶以上之運河全賴湖水，其情大可想見。請飭河、漕二臣將河面淤墊處展挑寬深，再放湖水，藉資輓送，以期不誤北上期限。」上以「借黃濟運，原系權宜辦理，孫玉庭察看漕艘挽運艱難，不早陳奏變計，魏元煜舊任漕督，及與顏檢坐觀事機敗壞，隱忍不言，糜帑病民，是誠何心？令將運河淤墊一律挑深，費由玉庭、元煜、檢分賠。」琦善又言：「自御黃壩堵閉，運河淤墊不復增高，而洪湖清水蓄至丈餘，各船可資浮送，不敢冒昧挑濬。工費至省在百萬外，玉庭等罄其所有，斷無如許家資。更可慮者，欲濬運河，必先堵束清壩，阻絕來源，而後可以涸底挑辦。現湖水下注湍急，束清壩外跌塘甚深，又系清水，不能掛淤閉氣。設正事興挑，而束清壩臌開，則工廢半途，費歸虛擲。請停止里、揚運河挑工，以免草率而節糜費。」允之。是年，築溫榆河上游果渠村壩埽。七年，東河總督張井、副總河潘錫恩請修復北運河劉老澗石滾壩、中河廳南纖堤、揚糧二廳東西纖堤及堤外石工，移建昭關壩。上遣英和等馳勘，乃定移昭關壩於其北三元宮之南，餘如所請行。

The new Governor-General of the Two Jiangs, Qishan, reported: "On reaching Qingjiang I immediately walked the canal and inspected every dam on the transport and clear-water lines. Since Yellow River water had been used for transport, the canal bed had risen more than a zhang, both banks were heaped with silt, and the fairway had shrunk to a thread. Reaches once thirty or forty zhang across now measured ten down to five or six; depths that had been a zhang and a half held only three or four chi of water, and some spots barely five cun. Vessels grounded everywhere; they could neither advance nor withdraw. Lake water behind the transport dam was rising, yet the head feeding downstream barely three cun and could not run freely. Thirty li around Huai'an were the same, and the canal above Gaoyou and Baoying depended entirely on lake water—one could guess the rest. He asked the river and grain directors to widen and deepen the shoals, then release lake water to help towing so the northbound fleet would not miss its schedule." The emperor said: "Using Yellow River water to support transport was originally a temporary expedient. Sun Yuting saw the hardship of towing grain boats and did not memorialize early to change the plan; Wei Yuanyu formerly served as grain transport director, and he and Yan Jian sat watching as affairs deteriorated, bearing it in silence without speaking, wasting public funds and harming the people. What was truly in their minds? Order the canal's silted places all dredged deep, with the cost divided among Yuting, Yuanyu, and Jian for repayment." Qishan added, "Once the Yellow River dam was sealed the canal bed stopped rising; Hong Lake held over a zhang of clear water, enough to float the fleet, and I dare not dredge recklessly. Even a minimal estimate topped a million taels—far beyond anything Sun Yuting and the others could pay from their estates. Worse, dredging required first sealing the clear-water dam to cut the supply and dry the bed—only then could digging proceed. Lake water now poured down fiercely; below the clear-water dam the plunge pool ran deep with clear water that would not hold mud or seal properly. If dredging began and the clear-water dam burst, the project would halt halfway and every expense would be wasted. I ask that dredging on the Li-Yang canal be halted to avoid slipshod work and needless cost." The court agreed. That year revetment works went up at Guoqu Village on the upper Wenyu River. Year seven Governors Zhang Jing and Pan Xien sought to restore the Liulaojian roller dam on the northern canal, tracking dikes south of the central river office and east and west of the Yang grain offices, outer stone revetments, and to move Zhaoguan Dam. Yinghe was sent to inspect quickly; Zhaoguan Dam was fixed south of Sanyuan Palace, and the other repairs proceeded as proposed.

十一年，高郵湖河漫馬棚灣及十四堡，湖河連為一。江督陶澍請依嘉慶間故事，運河決口，重空糧艘均繞湖行。八月，十四堡塞。冬，馬棚灣塞。先是澍撫蘇時，以鎮江運河並無水源，祗恃江潮浮送，下練湖湮塞已久，移建黃泥閘於張官渡以當湖之下流，俾得擎托湖流，使之回漾，稍濟江潮之不逮，曾著成效。至十四年遷江督，復偕巡撫林則徐相度，於湖頂沖之黃金壩及東岡築兩重蓄水壩，培圩埂二千八百八十丈，使水得入湖。又建減水石壩二於湖之東堤，俾可宣洩暴漲。於入運處修復念七家古涵，以作水門，並建石閘以放水濟運。是冬工竣，由涵引水出，竟能倒漾上行數十里，軍船得銜尾而南。越二年，溜勢變遷，河形灣曲，復移建黃泥閘於迤上二百丈，改為正越二閘，中建磯心，並改張官渡迤下六十里呂城閘為正越二閘，以利漕行。十五年，移築囊沙引渠沙壩於西河漘外，以資收蓄，從東河總督吳邦慶請也。

Year eleven floodwater at Mapeng Bay and Fourteen Forts merged Gaoyou Lake with the canal into one sheet of water. Governor Tao Shu asked, as in Jiaqing times, to route loaded and empty grain ships around the lake when the canal broke. In the eighth month the breach at Fourteen Forts was sealed. That winter Mapeng Bay was closed as well. Earlier as Jiangsu governor Tao Shu had found the Zhenjiang canal sourceless and dependent on Yangtze tides; with Lower Lian Lake long choked, he moved Huangni Lock to Zhanggu Ferry to catch lake outflow, turn it back upstream, and supplement the tides—a scheme that had worked well. After becoming Jiangsu governor in year fourteen he and Lin Zexu surveyed again, building double storage dams at Huangjin Dam on the lake crest and at East Mound, raising 2,880 zhang of embankment so water could feed the lake. Two stone spill dams on the eastern levee let sudden floods escape safely. At the canal junction they restored the old Nianqijia culvert as a sluice and added a stone lock to feed transport water. When work finished that winter, water through the culvert backed upstream for dozens of li, and grain junks could sail south in close procession. Two years later shifting currents bent the channel, so Huangni Lock was moved two hundred zhang upstream as paired main and spill locks with a rock core, and Lücheng Lock sixty li below Zhanggu was rebuilt the same way to ease grain traffic. Year fifteen, on Governor Wu Bangqing's request, the Nangsha intake sand dam was rebuilt beyond the west bank to improve storage.

十八年，運河淺阻，用河督栗毓美言，暫閉臨清閘，於閘外添築草壩九，節節擎蓄，於韓庄閘上硃姬庄迤南筑攔河大壩一，俾上游各泉及運河南注之水，並攔入微山湖。定收瀦濟運章程六。十九年，毓美以戴村壩卑矮，致汶水多旁泄，照舊制增高之。初，給事中成觀言淮、揚芒稻閘、人字河不宜堵壩，阻水去路，下陶澍等議。至是覆稱：「此壩蓄水由來已久，並不攔阻眾水歸江，不得輕議更張。」從之。時衛河淺澀，難以濟運。東撫經額布請變更三日濟運、一日灌田例。詔將百門泉、小丹河各官渠官閘一律暢開，暫避民渠民閘，如有賣水阻運盜挖情弊，即行嚴懲。明年，漕督硃澍復言：「衛河不能下注，有妨運道。」命河督文沖、豫撫牛鑒察勘。文沖等言：「衛河需水之際，正民田待溉之時。民以食為天，斷不能視田禾之枯槁置之不問。嗣後如雨澤愆期，衛河微弱，船行稍遲，毋庸變通舊章。倘天時亢旱，糧船阻滯日久，是漕運尤重於民田，應暫閉民渠民閘，以利漕運。」從之。

Year eighteen, with the canal shoaled, Director Li Yumei's plan closed Linqing Lock, added nine sod dams below it to pond water in stages, and built a great barrier south of Zhujizhuang above Hanzhuang to divert springs and southbound canal flow into Weishan Lake. Six rules were issued for impounding water to feed transport. Year nineteen Yumei raised low Daicun Dam to the old height to stop Wen River water escaping sideways. Earlier Censor Cheng Guan argued that dams on the Huai-Yang Mangdao lock and Renzi River would block outflow, and the case went to Tao Shu and colleagues. They now replied: "These dams have stored water for a long time and do not block the various waters from returning to the Yangtze; changes should not be lightly discussed." The court concurred. The Wei River had run so low that it could barely feed the transport canal. Shandong Governor Jing'e'bu asked to revise the rule giving transport three days of water to one for irrigation. An edict opened every official canal and lock on the Baimen Spring and Xiaodan River lines, bypassing private works for the moment, and promised harsh punishment for selling water, blocking transport, or illegal diversions. The following year Grain Director Zhu Shu again said: "The Wei River cannot flow downstream, and this obstructs the transport route." River Director Wen Chong and Henan Governor Niu Jian were told to investigate. Wen Chong and the others said: "The time when the Wei River needs water is precisely the time when the people's fields await irrigation. The people take food as Heaven; we absolutely cannot look on while the crops wither and ignore them. Hereafter, if the rains are delayed, the Wei River weak, and boat travel only somewhat slow, there is no need to alter the old regulations. But if Heaven's season is severely dry and grain boats are obstructed for a long time, then grain transport is still more important than the people's fields, and the people's channels and locks should be temporarily closed to benefit grain transport." The throne agreed.

咸豐元年，甘泉閘河撐堤潰塌三十餘丈，河決豐縣，山東被淹，運河漫水，漕艘改由湖陂行。先是戶部尚書孫瑞珍言十字河為全漕之害，若於河西改寬新河，以舊河為囊沙，於彭口作滾壩，納濁水而漾清流，漕船無阻，可省起剝費二十萬。下東河總督顏以燠議。至是以燠言：「改挖新河事無把握，無庸輕議更張。」報聞。二年，決北運河北寺庄堤，命尚書賈楨、侍郎李鈞勘堵，並改次年漕糧由海道運津。自是遂以海運為常。同治而後，更以輪舶由海轉運，費省而程速，雖分江北漕糧試行河運，然分者什一，藉保運道而已。五年，銅瓦廂河決，穿運而東，堤埝沖潰。時軍事正棘，僅堵築張秋以北兩岸缺口。民埝殘缺處，先作裹頭護埽，黃流倒漾處築壩收束，未遑他顧也。十年，決淮揚馬棚灣。

Xianfeng year one, thirty zhang of levee at Ganquan Lock gave way; the Yellow River broke at Feng County, flooded Shandong, drowned the canal, and grain ships were rerouted across lake flats. Earlier, Minister of Revenue Sun Ruizhen had said that the Cross River was the chief harm to the whole grain-transport system. If a wider new channel were cut west of the river, the old channel used as a sediment trap, and a rolling dam built at Pengkou to admit muddy water and release clear flow, grain boats would pass without obstruction and two hundred thousand taels in lightering expenses could be saved. The plan went to Eastern River Governor Yan Yixun for review. Yixun now said: "There is no certainty in changing to dig a new channel; there is no need lightly to discuss altering the arrangement." The court took note. Year two the Beisizhuang levee on the northern canal broke; Ministers Jia Zhen and Li Jun were sent to seal it, and the next year's tribute grain was ordered by sea to Tianjin. Sea transport thereafter became routine. After Tongzhi steamers carried grain by sea more cheaply and quickly; a tenth of Jiangbei tribute still trial-ran the canal, mainly to keep the route alive. Year five the river broke at Tongwaxiang, cut east through the canal, and smashed the levees. With war urgent, crews could only patch breaches on both banks north of Zhangqiu. Broken civilian levees got emergency revetment heads; where muddy water backed up, barrier dams were thrown up—nothing more could be done. Year ten brought a breach at Mapeng Bay on the Huai-Yang line.

同治五年，決清水潭。八年，河決蘭陽，漫水下注，運河堤埝殘缺更甚。自張秋以北，別無來源，歷年惟借黃濟運而已。九年，漕督張之萬請於黃流穿運處堅築南北兩堤，酌留運口為漕船出入門戶，並築草壩，平時堵閉以免倒灌。已下所司議，之萬旋改撫江蘇，繼任張兆棟以「既築堤束水留口門，又築壩堵閉，恐過水稍滯，而上游一氣奔注，新築堤閘難當衝激。設奪運北趨，則東昌、臨清暨天津、河間，淹沒在所必至，北路衛河亦將廢壞。惟有於鄆城沮河一帶遏黃東流，即以保南路之運道，於張秋、八里廟等處疏運河之淤墊，即以通北上之漕行，較之築堤束水，稍有實際」。制可。

Tongzhi year five the river broke at Qingshuitan. Year eight a break at Lanyang sent floodwater down the line, leaving the canal levees even more shattered. North of Zhangqiu there was no other water source; year after year transport relied solely on Yellow River water. Year nine Director Zhang Zhiwan asked for solid north and south dikes where the Yellow River crossed the canal, a controlled mouth for grain ships, and sod dams kept closed against backflow in normal times. The proposal had been sent down to the responsible offices for deliberation, and Zhang Zhiwan was soon transferred to be governor of Jiangsu. His successor Zhang Zhaodong considered: "Since dikes have been built to bind the water while leaving a gate, and dams have also been built to close it off, I fear that the passage of water will become somewhat sluggish, while the upstream flow rushes down all at once and the newly built dikes and locks will not withstand the impact. If it seizes the canal and runs north, Dongchang, Linqing, Tianjin, and Hejian will inevitably be inundated, and the northern Wei River route will also be ruined. The only course is to block the Yellow River's eastward flow around Yuncheng's Ju River, thereby protecting the southern transport route, and to dredge the canal's silt at Zhangqiu, Bali Temple, and elsewhere, thereby opening the northbound grain passage. Compared with building dikes to bind the water, this has somewhat more practical substance." The throne approved.

十年，侯家林河決，直注南陽、昭陽等湖，鄆城幾為澤國。漕督蘇鳳文言：「安山以北，運河全賴汶水分流，至臨清以上，始得衛水之助。今黃河橫亙於中，挾汶東下，安山以北毫無來源，應於衛河入運及張秋清黃相接處，各建一閘，蓄高衛水，使之南行，俟漕船過齊，即啟臨清新閘，仍放衛北流，以資浮送。並於張秋淤高處挑深丈餘，安山以南亦一律挑濬，庶黃水未漲以前，運河既深，舟行自易。」江督曾國籓言：「河運處處艱阻，如嶧縣大泛口沙淤停積，水深不及二尺，必須挑深四五尺，並將近灘石堆劃除，與河底配平，方利行駛。北則滕縣郗山口入湖要道，淺而且窄，微山湖之王家樓、滿家口、安家口，獨山湖之利建閘，南陽湖北之新店閘、華家淺、石佛閘，南旺閘分水龍王廟北之劉老口、袁口閘，處處淤淺，或數十丈至百餘丈，須一律挑深。此未渡黃以前，阻滯之宜預為籌辦者。至黃水穿運處，漸徙而南，自安山至八里廟五十五里運堤，盡被黃水沖壞，而十里鋪、姜家莊、道人橋均極淤淺，宜一面疏濬，一面於缺口排釘木椿，貫以巨索，俾船過有所依傍牽挽。此渡黃時運道艱滯，宜預為籌辦者。渡黃以後，自張秋至臨河二百餘里，河身有高下，須開挖相等，於黃漲未落時，閉閘蓄水，以免消耗，或就平水南閘迤東築挑壩，引黃入運。此渡黃後運道易涸，宜預為籌辦者。東平運河之西有鹽河，為東省鹽船經行要道。若漕船由安山左近入鹽河，至八里廟仍歸運道，計程百餘里，較之徑渡黃流，上有缺口大溜，下有亂石樹舂者，難易懸殊。如行抵安山，遇黃流過猛，宜變通改道，須先勘明立標為志。此又渡黃改道，宜預為籌辦者。」下河、漕督及東撫商籌。

Year ten the river broke at Houjialin and poured into Nanyang, Zhaoyang, and neighboring lakes until Yuncheng nearly became a swamp. Grain Director Su Fengwen said: "North of Anshan, the canal relies entirely on divided Wen River water, and only above Linqing does it begin to receive the help of Wei water. Now the Yellow River lies across the middle and carries the Wen eastward, leaving north of Anshan with no source at all. A lock should be built where the Wei River enters the canal and another where clear and Yellow waters meet at Zhangqiu, storing Wei water high and making it travel south; after the grain boats have passed through Shandong, open the new Linqing lock and release the Wei northward again to help float them. Also dredge the high silted places at Zhangqiu more than a zhang deep, and dredge everything south of Anshan uniformly, so that before the Yellow River water rises, the canal will already be deep and boats can travel easily." Jiangsu Governor Zeng Guofan said: "River transport is difficult and obstructed everywhere. For example, at Dafankou in Yixian, sand and silt have accumulated until the water is less than two chi deep; it must be dredged four or five chi deeper, and the stone piles near the shoal must be cleared away and leveled with the riverbed before travel will be easy. To the north, the key route into the lake at Xishankou in Teng county is both shallow and narrow; Wangjialou, Manjiakou, and Anjiakou on Weishan Lake; Lijian Lock on Dushan Lake; Xindian Lock, Huajia Shoal, and Shifo Lock north of Nanyang Lake; and Liulaokou and Yuankou Lock north of the water-dividing Dragon King Temple at Nanwang Lock are all silted and shallow, in places for several tens to more than a hundred zhang, and must all be dredged deep uniformly. These are the obstructions before crossing the Yellow River that should be planned for in advance. As for the place where Yellow River water cuts through the canal, it has gradually shifted south; the fifty-five li of canal dike from Anshan to Bali Temple have all been destroyed by Yellow River water, while Shilipu, Jiangjiazhuang, and Daoren Bridge are all extremely silted and shallow. It is proper to dredge on the one hand and, on the other, drive rows of wooden piles at the breaches and run heavy ropes through them so boats passing through have something to rely on for towing. These are the works that should be planned for in advance because the transport route is difficult and sluggish when crossing the Yellow River. After crossing the Yellow River, the more than two hundred li from Zhangqiu to Linhe have high and low places in the river channel; they must be opened and dug to an even level. While the Yellow River flood has not yet fallen, close the locks and store water to avoid loss, or build a training dam east of the Pingshui South Lock to draw the Yellow River into the canal. These are the works that should be planned for in advance because the transport route easily dries after crossing the Yellow River. West of the Dongping canal is the Salt River, the main route used by Shandong salt boats. If grain boats enter the Salt River near Anshan and return to the transport route at Bali Temple, the distance is somewhat more than a hundred li; compared with crossing the Yellow River current directly, where there are gap breaches and a great current above and jumbled stones and tree stumps below, the difference in difficulty is vast. If, when the boats reach Anshan, the Yellow River current is too fierce, it would be proper to adapt by changing routes, but the route must first be surveyed clearly and markers set up. This is another alternate route after crossing the Yellow River that should be planned for in advance." The Lower River office, the grain transport commissioner, and the Shandong governor then held joint consultations.

十一年，河督喬松年請在張秋立閘，借黃濟運。同知蔣作錦則議導衛濟運。上詢之直督李鴻章，鴻章言：「當年清口淤墊，即借黃濟運之病。今張秋河寬僅數丈，若引重濁之黃以閘壩節宣用之，水勢抬高，其淤倍速。至作錦導衛，原因張秋北無清水灌運，故為此議。以全淮之強，不能敵黃，尚致倒灌停淤，豈一清淺之衛，遂能御黃濟運耶？其意蓋襲取山東諸水濟運之法。不知泰山之陽，水皆西流，因勢利導，百八十泉之水，源旺派多，自足濟運。衛水微弱，北流最順，今必屈曲使之南行，一水兩分，勢多不便。若分沁入衛以助其源，沁水猛濁，一發難收，昔人已有明戒。近世治河兼言利運，遂致兩難，卒無長策。事窮則變，變則通。今沿海數千里，洋舶駢集，為千古以來創局，正不妨借海道轉輸，由滬解津，較為便速。」疏入，詔江、安糧道漕米年約十萬石仍由河運，餘仍由海運。光緒三年，東撫李元華條上運河上中下三等辦法，並言量東省財力，擬用中等，將北運河一律疏通，復還舊址，並建筑北閘。時值年荒，寓賑於工，省而又省，需費三十萬有奇。下所司議。

In the eleventh year of Tongzhi, River Commissioner Qiao Songnian proposed a lock at Zhangqiu to feed the canal with Yellow River water. Sub-Prefect Jiang Zuojin urged diverting the Wei River instead. The emperor asked Zhili Governor Li Hongzhang about it, and Li Hongzhang said: "The silting at Qingkou in those years was precisely the harm caused by using Yellow River water to support transport. Now the river at Zhangqiu is only several zhang wide. If heavy, muddy Yellow River water is drawn in and regulated by locks and dams, the water level will be raised and the silting will be twice as fast. As for Jiang Zuojin's proposal to divert the Wei, it arose because north of Zhangqiu there is no clear water to supply the transport route. If the strength of the entire Huai cannot resist the Yellow River and still suffers backflow and silt stoppage, how could the clear and shallow Wei alone resist the Yellow River and support transport? His idea simply borrows the Shandong method of using various waters to support transport. He does not understand that south of Mount Tai the waters all flow west; by guiding them according to the terrain, the water of one hundred eighty springs, with abundant sources and many branches, is itself sufficient to support transport. The Wei water is weak, and its most natural course is northward. If it must now be bent south, one stream will be divided in two and the circumstances will be inconvenient in many ways. If the Qin is divided into the Wei to assist its source, Qin water is fierce and muddy; once released, it is hard to restrain. Men of old already gave clear warnings about this. In recent times river management has also spoken of benefiting transport, and this has led to two difficulties, with ultimately no lasting plan. When an affair reaches exhaustion, it changes; when it changes, it opens a way through. Now foreign ships crowd the coast for several thousand li, an unprecedented situation from ancient times to the present. There is no harm in using the sea route for shipment; sending it from Shanghai to Tianjin is comparatively convenient and fast." The memorial was received, and the court ordered that roughly one hundred thousand shi of Jiangsu and Anhui tribute grain each year would still travel by canal while the rest continued by sea. In Guangxu 3, Shandong Governor Li Yuanhua submitted three graded plans for the canal and, gauging provincial finances, proposed the middle option: dredge the northern canal throughout, restore its old alignment, and rebuild the north lock. With famine abroad he folded relief into the project and pared costs repeatedly, yet the work would still need somewhat more than three hundred thousand taels. The proposal was sent down for departmental review.

五年，有請復河運者。江督沈葆楨言：「以大勢言之，前人之於河運，皆萬不得已而後出此者也。漢、唐都長安，宋都汴梁，舍河運無他策。然屢經險阻，官民交困，卒以中道建倉，伺便轉餽，而後疏失差少。元則專行海運，故終元世無河患。有明而後，汲汲於河運。遂不得不致力於河防。運甫定章，河忽改道。河流不時遷徙，漕政與為轉移，我朝因之。前督臣創為海運之說，漕政於窮無復之之時，藉以維持不敝。議者謂運河貫通南北，漕艘藉資轉達，兼以保衛民田，意謂運道存則水利亦存，運道廢則水利亦廢。臣以為舍運道而言水利易，兼運道而籌水利難。民田於運道勢不兩立。兼旬不雨，民欲啟涵洞以溉田，官必閉涵洞以養船。迨運河水溢，官又開閘壩以保堤，堤下民田立成巨浸，農事益不可問。議者又太息經費之無措，舳艫之不備，以致河運無成。臣以為即使道光間歲修之銀與官造之船，至今一一俱存，以行漕於借黃濟運之河，未見其可也。近年江北所雇船隻，不及從前糧艘之半，然必俟黃流汛漲，竭千百勇夫之力以挽之，過數十船而淤復積。今日所淤，必甚於去日，而今朝所費，無益於明朝。即使船大且多，何所施其技乎？近因西北連年亢旱，黃河來源不旺，遂乃狎而玩之。物極必返，設因濟運而奪溜，北趨則畿輔受其害，南趨則淮、徐受其害，如民生何？如國計何？」

In the fifth year of Guangxu, memorials appeared urging a return to canal transport. Jiangsu Governor Shen Baozhen said: "Speaking of the general situation, earlier men resorted to river transport only when they had no other choice. When the Han and Tang made their capitals at Chang'an and the Song at Bianliang, there was no plan other than river transport. Yet after repeated dangers and obstructions, officials and people were both exhausted; only when granaries were built midway and grain was relayed when convenient did failures become somewhat fewer. The Yuan used sea transport alone, and therefore through the whole Yuan dynasty there were no river disasters. From the Ming onward, the state was urgent about river transport. It therefore had no choice but to devote effort to river defense. As soon as the transport regulations were fixed, the river suddenly changed course. As the river flow shifted from time to time, grain policy shifted with it, and our dynasty followed the same pattern. Former governors created the proposal for sea transport; when grain policy had reached an impasse with no way to restore it, this was used to maintain it without collapse. Some discussants say that the canal runs through north and south, that grain boats rely on it for transport, and that it also protects the people's fields. Their idea is that if the transport route survives, water control survives too; if the transport route is abandoned, water control is abandoned too. I believe that speaking of water control while setting aside the transport route is easy; planning water control while also serving the transport route is hard. The people's fields and the transport route are fundamentally incompatible. After two ten-day periods without rain, the people want to open culverts to irrigate their fields, while officials must close the culverts to nurture the boats. When the canal water overflows, officials again open locks and dams to protect the dikes, and the people's fields below the dikes immediately become vast inundations; agriculture becomes still less manageable. Others again sigh that funds cannot be found and vessels are not prepared, causing river transport to fail. I believe that even if the annual-repair silver and government-built boats from the Daoguang years all survived intact today, I still do not see that they could carry grain on a river that uses Yellow River water to support transport. In recent years, the hired boats north of the Yangtze are not even half the former grain fleet, yet they must wait for the Yellow River's flood rise and exhaust the strength of thousands of brave men to tow them; after several tens of boats have passed, silt again accumulates. What silts today must be worse than what silted yesterday, and what is spent this morning is of no benefit tomorrow morning. Even if the boats were large and numerous, where could their skill be applied? Recently, because the northwest has had successive years of severe drought and the Yellow River's sources are not abundant, people have grown familiar with it and treated it lightly. When things reach an extreme they must reverse. If, in order to support transport, the current were seized and made to run north, the capital region would suffer; if it ran south, Huai and Xu would suffer. What would become of the people's livelihood? What would become of the state's finances?" He closed his memorial.

八年，伏秋大汛，張家灣運河自蘇庄至姚辛庄沖開新河一段，長七百餘丈，上下口均與舊河接，形勢順直，大溜循之而下。舊河上口至下口，長六千四百餘丈，業已斷流，惟新河身系自行沖開，不能一律深通。明年，直督李鴻章飭制新式鐵口刮泥大板，在兩岸拖拉，使一律通暢。十二年，通州潮白河之平家甿漫口，東趨入箭桿河。未幾，堵復運河故道。十三年六月，復漫刷平家甿新工下之北市庄東小堤，並老堤續塌百數十丈，連成一口，奪溜東趨十之八。尋堵塞之。是年，河決鄭州，山東黃水斷流，漕船不能南下，向之借黃濟運者，至是束手無策。旋將臨口積淤疏挑，空船始得由黃入運。十五年，東撫張曜言：「河運未能久停，請改海運漕米二十萬仍歸河運。」從之。

In the eighth year a summer flood cut a new seven-hundred-zhang channel through the Zhangjiawan canal from Suzhuang to Yaoxinzhuang, both ends tying into the old bed along a straight line that carried the main current. The old six-thousand-four-hundred-zhang reach above and below lay dry, while the new cut, opened by the flood itself, was not uniformly deep. The following year Zhili Governor Li Hongzhang had new iron-mouthed mud-scrapers built and hauled along both banks until the channel ran clear throughout. In the twelfth year the Chaobai River broke through at Pingjiatun near Tongzhou and poured east into the Jian'gan River. Soon the breach was closed and the canal's old course restored. In the sixth month of the thirteenth year flood again scoured the small levee east of Beishizhuang below the Pingjiatun repair; the old levee collapsed for another hundred-odd zhang into one gap that carried eight-tenths of the flow east. It was soon closed again. That year the Yellow River broke at Zhengzhou and its Shandong reach ran dry; grain boats could not move south, and advocates of borrowing the river for transport were left without recourse. Dredging then cleared the silt at Linqing mouth so empty boats could at last pass from the Yellow River into the canal. In the fifteenth year Shandong Governor Zhang Yao said: "River transport cannot be suspended for long. Please change two hundred thousand shi of grain now sent by sea back to river transport." The court agreed.

十六年，用江督曾國荃言，修揚屬南運河堤閘涵洞，及附城附鎮塼工。又用漕督松椿言，濬邳、宿運河。十九年，潮白河漲溢，運堤兩岸決口七十餘，上游務關廳決口七。是冬均塞。二十年，濬濟寧、汶上、滕、嶧、茌平、陽穀、東平各屬運河。明年，濬陶城埠至臨清運河二百餘里。二十四年，侍讀學士瑞洵言南漕改折，有益無損，請每年提折價在津購米以實倉庾。御史秦夔揚亦言河漕勞費太甚，請停江北河運。皆不許，仍飭認真疏濬，照常起運。二十六年，聯軍入京師，各倉被占踞，倉儲粒米無存，江北河運行至德州，改由陸路運送山、陝。二十七年，慶親王奕劻、大學士李鴻章言：「漕糧儲積，關於運務者半，因時制宜，請詔各省漕糧全改折色，其採買運解收放儲備各事，分飭漕臣倉臣籌辦。」自是河運遂廢，而運河水利亦由各省分籌矣。

In the sixteenth year, on the advice of Jiangsu Governor Zeng Guoquan, the southern canal levees, locks, and culverts in the Yangzhou region were repaired, along with brick revetments at towns and cities. On the advice of Grain Transport Commissioner Song Chun, the canal through Pi and Su counties was dredged. In the nineteenth year the Chaobai River flooded, opening more than seventy breaks along the canal levees and seven more at the upstream Wuguan office. All were closed that winter. In the twentieth year the canal was dredged through Jining, Wenshang, Teng, Yi, Chiping, Yanggu, and Dongping. The following year more than two hundred li from Taochengbu to Linqing were cleared. In the twenty-fourth year Hanlin Reader Ruixun urged commuting southern tribute grain to cash, arguing it would help rather than harm, and asked that commutation funds each year buy rice at Tianjin to fill the granaries. Censor Qin Kuiyang likewise argued that canal transport cost too much in labor and money and asked that northern Jiangsu river carriage be halted. Both proposals were denied; the court instead ordered thorough dredging and the usual sailing season. In the twenty-sixth year allied troops entered Beijing, granaries were seized and emptied, and northern Jiangsu grain boats that had reached Dezhou had their cargoes sent overland to Shanxi and Shaanxi. In the twenty-seventh year Prince Qing Yikuang and Grand Secretary Li Hongzhang said: "Of tribute grain storage, half concerns transport affairs. In adapting to the times, please issue an edict changing all provincial tribute grain to cash commutation, while ordering grain transport and granary officials separately to plan purchase, transport, receipt, issue, and storage." Thereafter canal transport was abandoned, and upkeep of the Grand Canal's water works was left to the provinces separately.

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