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 must 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. He asked the throne to 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 had 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—about thirty-four thousand seven hundred men a day for three hundred days. Six breaches at Qingshui Pool and Datang Bay and others from Zhaijiaba to Wujiadun would also be closed, at a cost of some nine hundred eighty thousand taels. He added: 'Silt had made towing and lightering endlessly arduous. Deepening Qingkou would let ships run freely and save large sums. He proposed that merchants pay a small shallow-water levy on passing cargo for one year, using the savings to fund river works once dredging opened the route. 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 warned: 'Once the canal is deepened, unless the Huai is channeled to feed transport and Yellow backflow is stopped, it will silt up again. He asked to buttress thin sections of the Gaoyan dike with gentle slopes for lasting protection. 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 two rivers 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 Si 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 that the waterway governed both the grain transport and the welfare of the people, and that landforms and currents had to be managed flexibly as conditions changed. He observed that the channel was constricted and hugged the Yellow River levee, warning that a breach of the Yellow embankment could merge the Middle Canal with the Yellow River entirely. Merchants and townspeople had welcomed the new route, he noted, yet no one could foresee what troubles the future might bring. Tuna and Ma Qi replied that during their survey a major flood had convinced them the narrow channel could not carry the full volume, so they had proposed three relief dams on the northern distant embankment to send excess water to the sea along the old river course. Jin Fu argued that the canal had been cut to drive water seaward and that, once dredged, grain barges had indeed been able to use it. Strengthening the distant levee to protect the Yellow River embankment, he maintained, would remove any remaining risk. Wang Xinming, the river superintendent, warned that a single Zhenkou sluice at the branch mouth could not withstand the immense discharge from Weishan Lake and would inevitably fail in a major flood. He recommended relief works at Luoma Lake to spill floodwater into the Yellow River, together with rebuilding the Yuwang Terrace at Tancheng to turn the Baima and Yi rivers away from the lake and into the Shu River, thereby securing the Middle Canal. The emperor ruled that the branch channel should remain in service while the Yellow River shipping route was also preserved. After Zhang Yushu had earlier petitioned to close the Lanma River, Wang Xinming now urged keeping that spillway to vent exceptional Yellow River surges, opening it only in flood and closing it when levels fell so the Middle Canal would not silt up. On Luoma Lake's three relief dams, Zhang Yushu's plan to leave two inside the levee feeding the Middle Canal struck him as self-defeating if the canal could not hold the flow; they had therefore also proposed new spill dams eastward at Xiaojiadu, Yangjiazhuang, and Xinhekou. Wang Xinming objected that diverting two dams into an already overloaded Middle Canal, only to build more dams downstream, was needlessly convoluted. He preferred placing all three dams beyond the distant levee so floodwater reached the sea along the old channel, with two regulated gaps at Xiaojiadu opened or closed according to the current. He also urged sealing the Yuwang Terrace site at Tancheng, where the Baima and Yi rivers had been forced into Luoma Lake and caused uncontrollable flooding, and restoring their former course to the sea. 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 replied that the Shandong canal depended on water 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? Until those motives were understood, he said, no decision to open the river could be made. Otherwise public funds would be squandered for nothing." He added that the Shandong canal lived entirely on lake and spring water. Widespread rice cultivation and upstream diversions for irrigation, he warned, left the lakes empty and unable to feed the canal. He had once refused a similar eastern petition for fear of flooding downstream. Now they were asking again. With Weishan Lake on one flank and the Yixian hills on the other, he asked, where could a new channel even be cut? Zhang Penghe should convey these orders to the governor, discipline local officials, survey springs, and hoard lake water so the grain transport would run smoothly—a simple matter, he concluded." 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 that Shandong shipping depended on lake storage and urged dredging and embanking Anshan Lake; they called for heightening the Nanwang and Mata levees and Guanjia Dam and installing timed stone sluices; water-channeling dams were needed below each split on the sandy banks; the Dai Village Dam on the southern Wen should be strengthened; a stone spill dam should be built on the northern Wen at Kan River; a training dam was needed at En County's Sinv Temple; two west-bank intake locks should be restored and an east-bank overflow dam added; the Puzhou junction of the Sha and Zhao Wang rivers needed its old earthen diversion repaired, with voluntary west-bank channels feeding the Sha to aid both transport and irrigation; and diversion cuts should be dug on the north banks of Wucheng and En County. South of Beiquan the Henan canal's five locks—Ren, Yi, Li, Zhi, and Xin—encouraged locals to tap and steal water illicitly. They proposed demolishing those locks, building a stone weir at the spring outlet with three gated channels, and small levees to prevent side leakage; east and west branch canals would each carry five sluices for farmland irrigation. The Xiaodan below Qinghua should be dredged with ponds, stone sluices, and three channels—the center for the state, the flanks for the people. Ruined Huan River stone dams should be rebuilt as training works. Every spring head should be deepened to feed the Wei and the canal." 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 Ji Zengjun recalled that Suqian's Cross River mouth on Luoma Lake had once fed the canal and scoured the Yellow River. Later, fearing Yellow backflow as the lake waned, they sealed the mouth and built a blocking dam west of Xining Bridge, forcing the canal to depend on muddy Yellow water that silted the Middle Canal. That autumn mountain floods, with no outlet, spilled across the landscape. He asked to reopen the Cross River mouth to flush the Middle Canal with lake water, widen the blocking dam, and send surplus upstream water to the sea via 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 reported that the southern Wen, which fed the canal, had once been regulated by the Linglong, Luanshi, and rolling overflow dams. At summer peak, floodwater spilled into the Salt River through the rolling dam while sand escaped through the Linglong and Luanshi gaps. He Guozong's stone dams within the three works had sealed them entirely, eliminating both spillways and silt vents so the Wen drove sand into the canal and the bed rose relentlessly. They proposed replacing the dam with wing structures, fifty-six spur cores, fifty-five central sluices, and adjustable boards for controlled release. Since the works still could not be operated, they added a separate earthen berm called the Spring-Autumn Dam. The court approved as petitioned. In year eleven Governor Yue Jun reported that Dongping's Anshan Lake once had four derelict reservoir gates in Shandong. After He Guozong's plan to revive Anshan as a reservoir, crews rebuilt river and ring dikes, restored two locks, and installed the Anji stone gate between Baliwan and Shilipu; none of it held water for the canal. The porous lake bed could not be impounded by ring dikes, so protective maintenance was needed throughout. Filling gaps in the ring dike should stop entirely to avoid wasted labor. 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 warned that the Zhili and Shandong canal sections were silting badly. Minister Laibao urged a terrain survey to balance Wei water between the grain fleet and farmland irrigation. The throne dispatched Zhao Dianzui and Anning, with the canal, river, and provincial governors, to inspect and report jointly. The ministry found Shandong's 439 springs clear and most works sound, but eight locks from Daimiao to Dunzhuang needed wing-wall and stone-face repairs, including the sunken wings at Sankong Bridge—all assigned to the river superintendent. Reed farming on Mata, Shushan, and other lakes must be banned; Nanwang-style reservoirs should drain only; the silted Xiaoqing needs phased restoration. Wei water should be regulated with a gauge at Guantao and Linqing, opened and closed according to measured depth. 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 Bai Zhongshan argued that Wei water must be managed by flexible gate operation. Zhao Dianzui's proposed Guantao and Linqing gauges were unnecessary. With balanced rainfall, springs and sluices again split state and local use as before. In drought, private channels would close temporarily for the grain fleet. When water was ample and the fleet had passed, state sluices could lower boards for irrigation. 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. Ortai reported the mouth faced Qingkou directly; clear water from Peijia field ran northeast to Qingkou while canal inflow remained a gentle eddy. The new training dam was too short for peak clear-water flow; he recommended extending it rather than reopening the old outlet. Until the new locks opened, grain boats should use the straighter old channel for easier towing. The new route would have Tongji and Fuxing locks below Tianfei, operated as conditions required. After the grain fleet passed, full canal water would divert through the new channel; during lake floods both old and new locks would close until levels fell, alternating the two routes. 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 mapped two Zhang River courses: one through Qiu county west to the Fuyang and Dalu Marsh, then the Ziya to Tianjin and the sea. The other followed the old Sha River east of Qiu county through Hebei towns, the Qianqing marsh, and into the canal toward the sea. The western route lay far from the Wei and its traces were drowned, making reopening impractical. The Fuyang–Ziya junction could not absorb the Zhang's full discharge either. The old Sha River, the ancient Majia, offered a broad channel: reopen it from He'erzhai to Zhangdong to rejoin the old bed with minimal work. A lock at the new cut's Wei outlet would feed the canal when Wei water ran low and send surplus back to the old course when it did not. Locks below Qing county would keep the northern canal clear and protect downstream farms from flooding. He asked Zhili and Shandong to survey and budget the work jointly. 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 urged dredging Taoyuan's gravel bar and the three-thousand-plus zhang shallow stretch from Yangzhou's Wantou Lock to the Fan shrine south of the Yellow River. The Zhenjiang–Changzhou reach has no headwaters and depends on Yangzi tides, so winter and spring left it shallow. Daily tidal silting and loose banks required a full dredging every six years, or selective shallow dredging every three. Shallow stretches below Dantu and in Wujin and neighboring counties needed the same treatment. The throne warned that canal dredging invited fraud and ordered officials to inspect in person rather than delegate to staff. 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. Hai Ming's party now urged extra spillways for summer floods on the Zhang and Wei. Over two hundred fifty winding li from Linqing to Sinv Temple, an old Yellow River trace—the Sha River—ran east from Tawan through Dezhou and Gaotang to the Majia and the sea. They proposed dredging it into a rolling stone dam where the Wen and Wei could merge and split the flood. Widening the Sinv Temple and Shaomaying branches, the Wen and Wei's old spillways, would protect Dezhou downstream from flash floods. In year twenty-five Censor Yao Hai and Shizai argued that north of Nanwang only Mata Lake could not buffer floods. Dushan's Jinxian Lock sent water only south, while Liji could feed the north. They asked to relocate Jinxian Lock above Liulin so Dushan's lakes would supply the northern canal entirely. 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 Yao Lide reported that a Si River stone dam at Dongjiakou, built to split flow, now blocked the river as it shifted south. He asked to remove the dam and 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 wrote that on arrival he found most engineers, including Shang Saizai and Li Fenghan, still favored diverting Yellow water into the lakes. That year the lakes nearly dried: after the sixth month no clear water issued at all, while a swollen Yellow River backed up through the canal to Huai and Yang. His only remedy was to use stored muddy Yellow water for the return fleet while hoarding whatever clear water remained for the loaded southbound run. The southbound second fleet had crossed the Huai and Yellow on Yellow water alone; empty northbound hulls, drawing little draft, might still follow one another home if carefully managed. 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 reported that years of grain traffic had depended on backflow from the lower Wenyu, which filled the channel with sand. Deep dredging upstream to the stone dam would work with the natural grade. They urged a full longitudinal survey so the entire reach ran free. 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. Governor Wen Chenghui wrote that at Kangjiagou the current ran fierce, forcing grain fleets upstream at enormous cost in tracking lines and haulers. The ground there stood high, and in drought years the channel might drain dry altogether, making navigation still harder. Yet Zhangjiawan's sandy shores made dam footings impossible, and the main channel's long buildup of silt meant dredging would be painfully slow. 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. They answered that recent shoaling owed to repeated breaches, breaches to Yellow River backflow, backflow to a raised riverbed that blocked clear water—forcing reliance on muddy Yellow River water for transport, which bred silt, collapses, and every other ill at once. The canal was where the symptoms showed, not where the disease began. Let clear water discharge freely against the Yellow River and feed the transport route, and fresh silt would not lodge at the junction while old deposits could be flushed away. Without cutting off backflow at the source, frantic dredging would only refill overnight; deeper cuts would invite fiercer backflow, breached dikes, sucking currents, and worse troubles still. 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 warned against using Yellow River water for transport, noting that holding clear water against the Yellow River had long been settled practice. This year Zhang Wenhao's delay in sealing the Yellow River control dam let backflow settle into silt and swell into disaster. To draw more Yellow River water into the canal would fill it with mud, choke every reach, and invite new 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 both rivers too far gone 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 thundered that using Yellow River water had always been a stopgap: Sun Yuting had seen the fleet struggle yet failed to propose a new plan; former director Wei Yuanyu and Yan Jian had watched the crisis worsen in silence, wasting revenue and burdening the people—what were they thinking? He ordered the canal dredged throughout at the personal expense of Sun Yuting, Wei Yuanyu, and Yan Jian. Qishan added that once the Yellow River dam was sealed the canal bed had stopped rising, Hong Lake held over a zhang of clear water adequate to float the fleet, and he hesitated to 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. He asked to halt dredging on the Li-Yang canal 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 that these dams had long stored water without blocking the Yangtze and should not be altered lightly. 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 warned again that the Wei River could not feed downstream and was hurting transport. River Director Wen Chong and Henan Governor Niu Jian were told to investigate. Wen Chong replied that the season when the Wei was needed for transport was exactly when farmers needed it for irrigation. Food was the people's heaven; they could not stand by while crops withered. When rains were normal and the Wei merely low, delaying ships slightly, the old rule should stand. But in severe drought, with grain ships stalled for long stretches, transport outweighed irrigation and private canals and locks might be shut to favor the fleet. 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 Household Minister Sun Ruizhen had called Shizi River the chief obstacle to transport, proposing a wider new channel west of the old line with the old bed as a sand trap and a roller dam at Pengkou to take muddy water while clear water ran free—freeing ships and saving two hundred thousand taels in lighterage. The plan went to Eastern River Governor Yan Yixun for review. Yixun now replied that cutting a new channel was too uncertain to justify reopening the debate. 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 was under review when Zhang Zhiwan moved to Jiangsu; his successor Zhang Zhaodong warned that binding the flow while leaving a gate and also building closing dams might slow the current while upstream water hammered new works beyond endurance. If the river seized the canal and ran north, Dongchang, Linqing, Tianjin, and Hejian would inevitably flood and the northern Wei River route would be ruined. Better to hold the Yellow River eastward near Yuncheng's Ju River, keep the southern canal open, and dredge silt at Zhangqiu and Bali Temple to let tribute move north—a plan with more substance than merely penning water behind dikes. 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 wrote that north of Anshan the canal depended entirely on Wen River water, and only above Linqing did the Wei River help. Now the Yellow River lay across the route, dragging the Wen east; north of Anshan there was no supply. He proposed locks where the Wei entered the canal and where clear and Yellow waters met at Zhangqiu to pond Wei water south for the fleet, then after ships passed Shandong open the new Linqing lock and release water north again to float them onward. He also urged dredging more than a zhang through Zhangqiu's shoals and the canal south of Anshan so that before the Yellow River rose, the channel would be deep enough for easy sailing. Governor Zeng Guofan added that river transport was blocked everywhere: at Yixian's Dafankou silt had piled until depth fell below two chi, requiring four or five chi of dredging and leveling shore stone heaps with the bed before ships could pass. Northward, the narrow throat at Teng County's Xishankou into the lakes, the Wangjialou, Manjiakou, and Anjiakou crossings on Weishan Lake, Lijian lock on Dushan Lake, Xindian, Huajia Shoal, and Shifo locks north of Nanyang Lake, and Liulaokou and Yuankou north of Nanwang's Dragon King Temple—all were shoaled for tens or hundreds of zhang and needed uniform deepening. These were the bottlenecks to clear before the fleet reached the Yellow River crossing. Where the Yellow River had cut across the canal and shifted south, fifty-five li of levee from Anshan to Bali Temple lay ruined; Shilipu, Jiangjiazhuang, and Daoren Bridge were badly shoaled. He urged dredging while driving rows of piles linked by heavy ropes at breaches so towlines would have something to grip. These were the works to prepare in advance for the hard passage where the canal crossed the Yellow River. Beyond the Yellow River crossing, the two hundred-odd li from Zhangqiu to Linqing had an uneven bed and needed leveling cuts. While the river remained swollen, locks should pond water against waste—or spur dikes east of the Pingshui South Lock could divert the Yellow River into the Grand Canal. These were the works to prepare in advance for the canal's tendency to run dry after the Yellow River crossing. West of the Dongping canal lay the Salt River, the principal channel for Shandong's salt fleet. Grain boats could enter the Salt River near Anshan and rejoin the canal at Bali Temple—a run of just over a hundred li—far easier than crossing the Yellow River itself, with gap breaches and heavy current above and jumbled rocks and snags below. If the fleet reached Anshan and the Yellow River ran too hard, an alternate route should be used—but the channel had to be surveyed and marked first. This too was an alternate route after the Yellow River crossing that needed advance planning. 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, who replied that the silting of Qingkou in earlier times had itself been caused by using the Yellow River to float grain boats. At Zhangqiu the channel was only a few zhang across; forcing muddy Yellow River water through locks and dams would raise the level and double the rate of silting. Zuojin's Wei diversion arose because no clear water reached the canal north of Zhangqiu. Even the full force of the Huai could not hold back the Yellow River and still suffered backflow and choking silt—how could the clear, shallow Wei hope to feed the canal against it? He was simply copying the old Shandong practice of feeding the canal from local streams. He overlooked that south of Mount Tai the streams all run west: guided with the slope, the waters of a hundred and eighty springs, broad at source and many in branch, had long been enough for transport. The Wei was a weak stream whose natural course ran north; bending it south would split one supply two ways and create endless inconvenience. Diverting the Qin into the Wei to boost its headwaters was worse still: the Qin ran fierce and muddy, and once loosed could not be recalled—an error warned against since antiquity. Modern river work had tried to serve transport as well, only to trap policy between two impossible goals with no durable remedy. When a policy is exhausted, it must change; change opens a way forward. Foreign shipping now crowded thousands of li of coast in a pattern unknown to any earlier age; the sea route from Shanghai to Tianjin was not only permissible but faster. 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 argued that, viewed in the large, every dynasty had turned to canal transport only when it had no choice. Han and Tang at Chang'an and Song at Kaifeng had no alternative to the waterways. Even so the route was perilous and wore down state and people alike until mid-route granaries were built and grain relayed in stages—only then did waste fall somewhat. The Yuan relied on sea transport alone and suffered no Yellow River crises for the whole dynasty. From the Ming onward the state clung to canal transport. River defense therefore became unavoidable. No sooner were transport regulations fixed than the river shifted its bed. As the river wandered, grain policy wandered with it, and the Qing had done the same. Earlier governors had devised sea transport to keep the grain system from collapsing when canal policy reached a dead end. Critics of abandonment argued that the canal linked north and south, carried grain boats, and irrigated fields—that water works lived or died with the transport route. In my view, water management is easy if transport is set aside and nearly impossible if transport must be served at the same time. Farmland and the canal were fundamentally at odds. After two weeks without rain farmers wanted culverts opened for irrigation while officials had to keep them shut to float boats. When the canal rose, officials opened locks and dams to save the levee and fields below were instantly drowned—agriculture could scarcely be spoken of. Others lamented that missing funds and missing fleets had doomed canal transport to fail. Even if every taels of Daoguang repair money and every government grain boat still survived, I see no way to move tribute grain on a channel fed by the Yellow River. Recent hired craft on the north bank numbered less than half the old fleet, yet still needed the Yellow River in flood and thousands of haulers to warp them along—after a few dozen boats the channel silted shut again. Each year's silt was worse than the last, and each year's silver bought nothing for the next. What use were larger or more numerous boats? Because the northwest had suffered drought after drought and the Yellow River ran low, men had grown careless and contemptuous of it. Extremes turn back: if transport works diverted the current north, the capital region would suffer; if south, Huai and Xu would suffer—what then of the people? What then 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 argued that canal transport could not remain suspended long and asked that two hundred thousand shi now sent by sea be returned to the river route. 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 memorialized that half of tribute storage depended on transport, that times had changed, and that all provincial tribute grain should be commuted to cash while grain and granary officials divided the work of purchase, delivery, receipt, and storage. Thereafter canal transport was abandoned, and upkeep of the Grand Canal's water works was left to the provinces separately.

Cite this Chapter