Volume 383 Biographies 170: Zhang Wenhao, Yan Lang, Zhang Jing, Wu Bangqing, Li Yu Mei, Lin Qing, Pan Xien son: Jun Wen

列傳一百七十

Biography 170

張文浩嚴烺張井吳邦慶栗毓美

Zhang Wenhao, Yan Lang, Zhang Jing, Wu Bangqing, and Li Yumei

麟慶潘錫恩子駿文

Lin Qing, Pan Xien, and his son Junwen

張文浩，順天大興人。入貲為布政司經歷，投效東河，工竣，發南河。嘉慶十年，授山清外河同知，屢以河溢奪職，尋復之，補外河南岸同知。十九年，河督吳璥奏調赴睢工委用，擢署淮海道。二十四年，河溢儀封，復決武陟馬營壩，調辦馬營壩工，工竣，賜花翎。儀封決口猶未塞，仁宗以吳璥年老，命文浩署河東河道總督，專駐工次。疏陳築壩挑河估銀四百五十萬，報可。工竣，晉二品頂戴，兼兵部侍郎銜。道光元年春，欽天監奏彗星出東壁，分野在衛地，占主大水，敕文浩防範。侍郎吳烜請加高河堤，文浩疏言：「河灘高下不齊，長堤千餘裡，未能一律增高，請加子堰二三尺。」從之。實授河道總督。三年，丁母憂，服未闋，以畿輔連年水患，召署工部侍郎，偕三品卿繼昌勘南北運河及永定河漫溢。詔繼昌還。文浩駐工會辦。工竣，與總督蔣攸銛合疏陳：「直隸河道漫水未涸，無從查勘，考詢各處堤埝，無不堙塞殘廢。每年二月方可動工，五月即須停止，工繁時促，斷難同時興作。請於來歲春融，週曆履勘，分別緩急估辦。」又言：「永定河為患，固由下口不能暢流，亦由上游無所宣洩。請修築重門閘，添設減水壩。又近年河流每多側注北岸，宜添築越堤以為重障。」

Zhang Wenhao came from Daxing in the Shuntian metropolitan district. He bought his way into office as secretary to a provincial administration commissioner, then offered his services on the Eastern River project; when that work was finished he was posted to the Southern River. In the tenth year of the Jiaqing reign (1805) he was appointed subprefect in charge of the outer Yellow River section at Shanqing. Floods cost him his post more than once, but he was soon reinstated and then assigned as subprefect on the south bank of the outer river. In the nineteenth year (1814) River Commissioner Wu Jin had him transferred to the Sui River works, and he was promoted to acting intendant of the Huai-Hai circuit. In the twenty-fourth year (1819) flooding at Yifeng broke the Maying Dam at Wuzhi again. Zhang was put in charge of repairing it; when the work was done he received the peacock feather insignia. The Yifeng breach was still open. Emperor Renzong, finding Wu Jin too old for the task, made Wenhao acting governor-general of the Eastern River and ordered him to stay on site at the works. In a memorial he estimated 4.5 million taels for dam construction and river dredging; the court approved the plan. After the project was finished he was promoted to a second-rank cap button and given the concurrent nominal title of vice minister of war. In the spring of Daoguang 1 (1821) the Directorate of Astronomy reported a comet at the Eastern Wall asterism, whose terrestrial correlate was the Wei region—an omen of major flooding—and the emperor ordered Wenhao to guard against it. Vice Minister Wu Xuan proposed raising the river embankments. Wenhao replied in a memorial: "The river flats vary in elevation; along more than a thousand li of main dike a uniform raise is impossible—I ask instead to add subsidiary embankments two or three feet high." The court agreed. He was then given the substantive post of governor-general of river works. In the third year (1823) he went into mourning for his mother. Before his mourning term ended, repeated flooding in the metropolitan region led the court to appoint him acting vice minister of works and send him with third-rank secretary Jichang to inspect overflows on the north–south Grand Canal and the Yongding River. The emperor ordered Jichang back to the capital. Wenhao stayed on site to oversee the work. When the project ended he and Governor-General Jiang Youqian submitted a joint memorial: "Floodwater in the Zhili waterways has not yet drained, so we cannot survey them properly; every dike and spur we have asked about is choked with silt, broken down, or neglected. Construction can start only in the second month and must halt by the fifth; with so much to do and so little time, we cannot possibly tackle everything at once. We ask that next spring, once the ice thaws, officials make a full on-site survey and draw up cost estimates ranked by urgency." They added: "The Yongding River floods not only because the lower outlet cannot run freely, but also because the upper course has nowhere to spill excess water. We propose repairing the Chongmen Sluice and adding flood-relief dams. In recent years the current has often struck the north bank; we should build outer dikes as an additional line of defense."

四年春，授江南河道總督。其秋，糧艘回空，黃河高於清水，停阻河北者數月，詔切責，降三品頂戴，命設法蓄清以資浮送。十一月，始全數渡黃。會洪澤湖漲水未消，高堰十三堡堤潰萬一千餘丈，山盱、周橋、悉浪菴亦過水八九尺，各壩漫溢。宣宗怒，褫文浩職，命尚書文孚、汪廷珍馳勘，劾文浩禦黃壩應閉不閉，五壩應開不開，蓄清過旺，以致潰決。命於工次枷號一月，遣戍新疆。回疆軍事起，隨營效力，事平，請釋回，不許。十六年，卒於戍所。

In the spring of the fourth year (1824) he was made governor-general of the Jiangnan river works. That autumn returning grain barges found the Yellow River higher than the canal’s clear water and were stuck north of the crossing for months. The emperor rebuked him sharply, reduced his cap button to third rank, and ordered him to store enough clear water to float the fleet through. Not until the eleventh month did the entire fleet finally cross the Yellow River. Meanwhile floodwater on Hongze Lake had not yet fallen. The dike at Gaoyan’s thirteen forts burst along more than eleven thousand zhang; at Shanxu, Zhouqiao, and Xilang'an the water stood eight or nine feet deep, and every dam spilled over. Emperor Xuanzong was furious, removed Wenhao from office, and dispatched Ministers Wen Fu and Wang Tingzhen to investigate on the spot. They impeached him for leaving the Yellow River control dam shut when it should have been opened, keeping the five outlet dams closed when they should have been opened, and hoarding clear water until the embankment gave way. He was made to wear the cangue at the worksite for a month, then exiled to Xinjiang. When fighting broke out in the Western Regions he served with the troops. After peace returned he asked to be released and sent home, but the court refused. In the sixteenth year (1836) he died in exile.

嚴烺，字小農，浙江仁和人。嘉慶中，入貲為通判，發南河，累擢徐州道，丁母憂。道光元年，服闋，授河南河北道。尋命以三品頂戴署河東河道總督，三汛安瀾，乃實授。汶水漫決既塞，疏言：「運河北路以蓄汶敵衛為最要機宜，必使汶水層層抬高，然後能敵衛水。請加高臨清口磚閘資收蓄。」從之。初，黎世序治南河多用碎石，乃奏請敕東河仿行，烺取其說，請於馬營北岸挑壩，仿南河拋護碎石，估工需銀十萬兩。布政使程含章、巡撫姚祖同先後言其不便，而馬營既放淤，壩前水勢已緩，烺仍請於壩尾沁水灌注之所拋護碎石，從之。

Yan Lang, whose style was Xiaonong, came from Renhe in Zhejiang. Under Jiaqing he bought office as subprefect and was posted to the Southern River, rising step by step to intendant of Xuzhou before going into mourning for his mother. When his mourning ended in Daoguang 1 (1821) he was appointed intendant of the Henan north-bank circuit. He was soon made acting governor-general of the Eastern River with a third-rank cap button. After three flood seasons passed without disaster he received the full appointment. Once the Wen River breach was sealed he wrote: "On the canal’s northern route the key is to impound Wen River water to counter the Wei. The Wen must be raised stage by stage before it can stand against the Wei. He proposed raising the brick sluice at Linqingkou to hold more water back." The court agreed. Li Shixu had long relied on rubble stone on the Southern River and urged the Eastern River to do the same. Lang took up the idea and asked to build a spur dike on the north bank at Maying, casting rubble as on the Southern River, at an estimated cost of one hundred thousand taels. Provincial treasurer Cheng Hanzhang and governor Yao Zutong both objected that the plan was impractical. After Maying had silted up and the current in front of the dam had slackened, Lang still asked to cast rubble at the tail where the Qin River fed in, and the court agreed.

四年，南河高家堰潰決，調烺江南河道總督。五年，與尚書文孚、汪廷珍合疏陳：「蓄清敵黃為河務第一關鍵。蓄清全賴湖堤，堤潰則清水洩枯，重運經臨，無以資浮送。擬遵古人成法，借黃濟運。所慮運河窄小，黃流湍悍，多則不能容納，少則必致膠淺。議於禦黃壩外建壩三道，鉗束黃流，俾有節制。又添築纖道，以資束水行纖。裡、揚兩廳長河挑挖淤淺，幫培堤身，並豫儲料物，隨時築壩，逼溜刷淤。禦黃壩未啟，則先挑高堰引河，導清水入運；將啟，則嚴堵束清，杜黃水入湖。至修復湖堤，必乘天寒水涸，取土較易。擬就近採料，限大汛前砌高十層，備湖水漸長。共需帑銀三百萬。」又議覆侍郎硃士彥條上南河事宜，大要：「拆修高家堰壩工，先築越壩以便工作，並於石堤外拋碎石坦坡，可期永無塌卸。又於王家壩減壩內鹽河加築堤埽，及仁、義、禮舊壩處所添建石滾壩，以防異漲。」並如議行。於是偕孫玉庭等會辦重運。至五月禦黃壩啟放後，河道仍淺滯，漕船不能通行，就近盤壩，剝運難繼，玉庭被重譴，烺亦鐫級留任。

In the fourth year (1824) the Gaojia Embankment on the Southern River burst, and Lang was transferred to governor-general of the Jiangnan river works. In the fifth year (1825) he joined Ministers Wen Fu and Wang Tingzhen in a memorial: "Holding clear water to push back the Yellow River is the single most important principle of river control. Clear water depends entirely on the lake embankments. Once they break the lake drains dry, and when the grain fleet arrives there is no water left to float the barges. We propose to follow the old practice of borrowing Yellow River water to serve the canal. The canal is narrow and the Yellow current fierce—too much water will not fit, too little will leave the channel shoaled and unnavigable. We propose building three dams outside the Yellow River control dam to pinch the current and keep it under control. We would also build towpaths to confine the water and allow tracking. On the long canal reaches under the Li and Yang offices we would dredge shoals, strengthen the dikes, stock materials in advance, and build temporary dams whenever needed to drive the current and scour silt away. Before the Yellow River control dam opens, we would first dredge the Gaoyan diversion to send clear water into the canal; and just before opening it we would seal off the clear water tightly to keep Yellow River water out of the lake. Lake embankments must be repaired in cold weather when the water is low and earth easier to dig. We would gather materials nearby and, before the main flood season, raise the masonry ten courses high in readiness for the lake’s rise. The whole plan would cost three million taels from the treasury." They also answered Vice Minister Zhu Shiyan’s proposals on the Southern River, in brief: "When rebuilding the Gaojia Embankment, build an outer dam first to give workers footing, and cast a rubble slope outside the stone dike so the structure need never collapse again. We would also strengthen dikes and revetments on the salt river inside the Wangjiaba relief dam and add stone roller dams at the old Ren, Yi, and Li dam sites to guard against sudden surges." The court approved and carried out the plan. He then worked with Sun Yuting and others to oversee the main grain transport. By the fifth month, even after the Yellow River control dam opened, the channel remained shallow and slow and grain barges still could not get through. Transshipment at nearby dams could not keep pace. Yuting was severely punished, and Lang was demoted several ranks but kept in his post.

烺既因濟運事不敢擅離，不能巡河勘工，兩江總督琦善以為言，乃命烺週曆履勘，仍諭蓄足清水，為來年敵黃濟運之計。烺疏言：「從前黃河底深，湖水收至數尺，即可外注，堤身不甚吃重。今則湖水必蓄至二丈，始可建瓴而刷黃。以四百里浩瀚之湖水，恃一線單堤為之護，西風衝擊，勢必潰決。擬仿成法，於堤外築碎石坦坡，護堤既固，則湖水可蓄。」又偕琦善奏陳：「刷黃必須湖水收至二丈。上年楜水丈七寸餘，即致失事。刻下清水萬難蓄足，惟有蓄清減黃二法並行。碎石護堤，所以蓄清；改移海口，所以減黃。」詔妥籌具奏。尋又會陳：「由王營減壩至灌河口，可導黃入海。查灌河口外海灘高仰，轉無把握，惟拋碎石坦坡，可漸收蓄清刷黃之益，需費六百餘萬，應分年辦理。」

Lang could not leave the transport crisis to tour the works, and Governor-General Qishan of the Two Jiangs complained. The court ordered him to make a full inspection tour while still telling him to store enough clear water for next year’s plan to use it against the Yellow River and float the grain fleet. Lang wrote: "In the past the Yellow River bed was deep. A few feet of stored lake water was enough to pour out and scour it, and the dikes did not bear much pressure. Today the lake must be held to two zhang before the water can pour down with enough force to scour the Yellow River. Four hundred li of open lake water cannot safely rest behind a single narrow dike; a west wind will surely burst it. We propose the established remedy of a rubble slope outside the dike. Once the embankment is secure, the lake can hold water again." He and Qishan added in a memorial: "Scouring the Yellow River requires two zhang of lake water. Last year the lake stood barely one zhang seven chi, and disaster followed immediately. At present we can hardly store enough clear water; we must pursue both storing clear water and reducing the Yellow River at once. Rubble slopes protect the dikes so we can store clear water; relocating the river mouth is how we reduce the Yellow River’s force." The emperor ordered a thorough plan submitted in writing. Soon they reported jointly: "From the Wangying relief dam to the Guanhe estuary the Yellow River could be guided to the sea. But the seashore beyond Guanhe mouth slopes upward, which makes that route uncertain. Only rubble slopes can gradually restore the benefits of storing clear water and scouring the Yellow River. The cost would exceed six million taels and should be spread over several years."

六年，洪湖石工既竣，烺知工未堅固，實不足恃，遂堅主碎石之工，每年拋石三十萬方，八年始能告成。宣宗怒斥：「烺調任以來，一籌莫展。禦黃壩至今不能啟放，辦理不善。念在東河修守尚無貽誤，降三品頂戴。」署河東河道總督；七年，實授，复二品頂戴。以蘭陽柴壩西北頂沖，前拋碎石已著成效，遇伏秋汛漲，仍形吃重，請加寬坦坡。八年，請續拋下北、蘭儀兩廳碎石，並於中河、祥河險工儲石備防。十一年，命侍郎鍾昌等抽查東河料垛，祥河、曹考兩廳料垛虛松殘朽，烺坐失察，降三品頂戴，鐫四級留任。尋以病請開缺。

In the sixth year (1826) the Hongze Lake stonework was finished. Lang knew it was not sound enough to trust, yet he still pushed rubble stone works, casting three hundred thousand cubic feet of stone a year until the eighth year, when the project was declared done. Emperor Xuanzong lashed out: "Since Lang took this post he has achieved nothing. The Yellow River control dam still cannot be opened. His management has been poor. Remembering that his work on the Eastern River had not yet failed outright, the court reduced his cap button to third rank." He was appointed acting governor-general of the Eastern River; in the seventh year (1827) he received the full appointment and regained his second-rank cap button. The northwest crown of the Lanyang timber dam was taking the main current. Earlier rubble casting had helped, but the summer and autumn floods still strained the site, and he asked to widen the slope. In the eighth year (1828) he asked to keep casting rubble in the Xiabei and Lanyi offices and to stock stone at critical points on the Middle and Xiang rivers for emergencies. In the eleventh year (1831) Vice Minister Zhong Chang inspected Eastern River material piles and found those at Xianghe and Cao-Kao hollow, loose, and rotten. Lang was faulted for poor oversight, reduced to a third-rank cap button, and demoted four ranks but kept in post. He soon asked to resign on grounds of illness.

十三年，病痊到京，疏陳浙江海塘事宜。十四年，命偕侍郎趙盛奎往勘，請分別緩急，改修柴埽，以護塘根，歲撥銀五萬備修費，從之。尋命毋庸在工督辦。復以病乞歸。十五年，河東河道總督吳邦慶劾烺虛拋碎石，並收受紅封盤費，以運同降補。二十年，卒。

In the thirteenth year (1833), recovered and back in the capital, he memorialized on Zhejiang’s seawalls. In the fourteenth year (1834) he was sent with Vice Minister Zhao Shengkui to inspect the coast. He asked that work be ranked by urgency, timber revetments rebuilt to protect the seawall foot, and fifty thousand taels set aside each year for repairs. The court agreed. He was soon told he need not stay on site to supervise. He again asked to go home on grounds of illness. In the fifteenth year (1835) Eastern River governor-general Wu Bangqing accused Lang of padding rubble reports and taking red-seal gifts and entertainment fees. He was demoted to transport subprefect. In the twentieth year (1840) he died.

張井，字芥航，陝西膚施人。嘉慶六年進士，以內閣中書用，改知縣，銓授廣東樂會。引見，特命改河南正陽，調祥符，遷許州直隸州知州。襄辦馬營壩大工，加知府銜，署汝寧知府。道光四年，擢開歸陳許道。尋以三品頂戴署河東河道總督。五年，秋汛安瀾，乃實授。增培黃河兩岸堤工，並修泉河堤，濬各湖斗門引渠，疏陳河工久遠大計，略曰：「今日之黃河，有防無治。每遇伏秋大汛，司河各官奔走搶救，竭蹶情形，惟日不足。及至水落霜清，則以目前可保無虞，不復求疏刷河身之策。漸致河底墊高，清水不能暢出，並誤漕運。又增盤壩起剝及海運等費，皆數十年來斤斤於築堤鑲埽，以防為治，而未深求治之之要有以致之也。當此河底未能疏濬之時，惟仍守舊規，以堤束水，而水不能攻沙，河身日形淤墊，必得有刷深之方，始可遂就下之性。」宣宗韙其言，命偕兩江總督琦善、南河總督嚴烺、河南巡撫程祖洛籌議，遂赴南河會勘。

Zhang Jing, whose style was Jiehang, came from Fushi in Shaanxi. He passed the jinshi examination in Jiaqing 6 (1801), served as a Secretariat drafter, then became a magistrate and was assigned to Lehui in Guangdong. At his audience the emperor specially reassigned him to Zhengyang in Henan, then to Xiangfu, and later made him magistrate of Xuzhou direct prefecture. He helped manage the major Maying Dam project, received the nominal rank of prefect, and served as acting prefect of Runing. In Daoguang 4 (1824) he was promoted to intendant of the Kai-Gui-Chen-Xu circuit. He was soon made acting governor-general of the Eastern River with a third-rank cap button. In the fifth year (1825), after the autumn floods passed without incident, he received the full appointment. He raised the Yellow River dikes on both banks, repaired the Quan River embankments, and dredged lake outlet channels. In a memorial on long-term river policy he wrote, in brief: "Today’s Yellow River is only defended, not truly governed. Every summer and autumn flood season river officials rush from crisis to crisis, exhausted day after day with never enough time. Once the water falls and frost sets in, they decide the river is safe for now and stop looking for ways to dredge and scour the channel. The bed rises, clear water cannot run out freely, and the grain transport suffers as well. Transshipment, lighterage, and sea transport added further costs—all because for decades officials have poured effort into dikes and revetments, treating flood defense as river control without ever grasping what real control requires. Until the bed can be dredged we are stuck with the old rule of confining water behind dikes. That water cannot scour sand, so the channel silts higher every day. Only a way to scour it deep can restore the river’s natural downward flow." The emperor endorsed his view and told him to plan with Governor-General Qishan, Southern River governor-general Yan Lang, and Henan governor Cheng Zuluo. He then went south for a joint inspection.

六年，疏言：「黃河病在中滿，淤墊過甚，自應因勢利導。擬仿前大學士阿桂改河避險之法，導使繞越高淤，於安東東門之北別築新堤，以北堤改作南堤，中間抽挑引河，傍舊河而行。至絲網濱以下，仍歸海口，無淤灘阻隔，似可暢順東趨。去路既暢，上淤必掣深，得黃與清平，立啟禦黃壩，挑逼清水暢出刷黃，自有建瓴之勢。」詔嘉其有識，調江南河道總督，與總督琦善及副總河潘錫恩會議。以改河避淤，口門有碎石阻遏，諸多窒礙，請開放王營減壩，以期減落黃水，刷滌河身，從之。

In the sixth year he wrote: "The Yellow River is sick because its middle is too high and silt too deep. We must guide it where the terrain allows. Following Grand Secretary Agui’s old method of shifting the channel to avoid danger, we would route the river around the high silt bar, build a new dike north of Andong’s east gate, turn the north dike into the south dike, and dredge a diversion between them parallel to the old course. Below Siwangbin it would rejoin the estuary without silt bars in the way and could run smoothly east to the sea. A clear outlet would draw down upstream silt. Once Yellow and clear water stood level, we could open the control dam, force clear water out, and scour the Yellow River with rooftop force." The emperor praised his insight, made him Jiangnan river governor-general, and ordered him to confer with Qishan and vice commissioner Pan Xien. Shifting the channel to avoid silt ran into rubble at the mouth and other obstacles, so he asked to open the Wangying relief dam to lower the Yellow River and scour the bed. The court agreed.

既而給事中楊煊奏「啟放減壩，黃流湍急，鹽河勢難容納，恐滋流弊」，援嘉慶間減壩兩次漫口情形為證。復下詳議，井言：「煊稽考成案，於今昔情形似未周知。昔年開壩漫口時在五月，本年啟放定在霜後，來源無慮續漲。惟現據委員禀稱，去路未見通暢，是煊所奏不為無見。因思啟壩時水勢或可暢達，堵合後全河仍必抬高，恐徒深四邑之災，無補全河之病。請仍改河避淤。」上斥井持論游移，不許。是秋，開放減壩，如期堵合，被褒獎。七年，春汛，黃水倒漾，仍高於清水，禦壩驟難啟放，漕船倒塘灌運，自請治罪，降三品頂戴。命大學士蔣攸銛、尚書穆彰阿往勘。會黃水低落，啟禦壩，運船幸得全渡，詔斥井急於求功，泥於師古，革職留任，以觀後效。

Supervising secretary Yang Xuan then warned that opening the relief dam would pour a fierce Yellow current the salt river could not hold and invite abuse, pointing to two Jiaqing-era overflows as proof. The court ordered another full review. Zhang Jing replied that Yang Xuan had searched the records but did not seem to grasp how things differed then and now. Past overflows had happened when the dam opened in May. This year it would open only after frost, so upstream flows were unlikely to keep surging. Yet commissioners now reported the outlet still blocked, so Yang Xuan was not entirely wrong. Opening might ease the flow for a time, but once the breach was sealed the whole channel would rise again. That would deepen the suffering in four counties while leaving the river's root sickness untouched. I ask that we return to shifting the channel to avoid silt." The emperor called Zhang Jing's position wavering and rejected it. That autumn the relief dam opened and closed on schedule, and he was rewarded. In the seventh year spring floods sent Yellow water backing up above the clear channel, and the control dam could not be opened in time. Grain boats had to haul water from ponds to keep moving. He asked to be punished and was stripped to third-rank insignia. Grand Secretary Jiang Youqian and Minister Mu Zhang'a were sent to inspect. Yellow water then fell, the control dam opened, and the fleet barely got through. The court scolded Zhang Jing for chasing credit and clinging to old models, stripped him of rank but left him in post to prove himself.

八年，疏陳要工四事：黃河接築海口長堤，並於下游多築埽壩以資刷掣；洪澤湖添建滾壩，加寬湖堤；南運河移建昭關壩，加幫兩岸纖堤；北運河修復劉老澗石滾壩，補還南岸纖堤。命都統英和會同蔣攸銛查勘，以添築埽壩不能疏通積淤，海口築堤可從緩辦，餘如議行。九年，以兩屆安瀾，复二品頂戴，諭相機規复河湖舊制。疏言：「南河利害，全系清江，必清水暢出，助黃刷淤，則河與漕兩治。惟黃水積淤，必清高於黃數尺，又必啟壩時多、閉壩時少，乃能暢出滌刷。現在清水能出，僅免倒灌，不誤漕行，殊未易收刷滌之效。」十二年，桃源縣民聚眾私掘官堤掣溜，致成決口，革職，暫留任效力。御史鮑文淳、宗人府府丞潘錫恩並言黃水入湖，恐妨運道，命穆彰阿、陶澍會勘籌議。疏陳：「黃水入湖後，即由吳城七堡仍入黃河，僅淤沿堤，不及湖中，未入束清壩，不致病及運河。正河乾涸，正可將桃南、桃北兩廳間大加挑濬，除去中滿之患。」十三年，於家灣合龍，予四品頂戴。尋引疾歸。十五年，卒於家。

In the eighth year he proposed four main projects: extend the Yellow River's sea-mouth dike and build more revetment dams downstream to scour and draw silt; add rolling dams on Hongze Lake and widen its dikes; relocate the Zhaoguan dam on the Southern Grand Canal and strengthen both tow-path dikes; and on the Northern Grand Canal restore the stone rolling dam at Liulaojian and repair the south bank tow-path dike. Yinghe and Jiang Youqian were told to inspect. Extra revetments would not clear the built-up silt, so the sea-mouth dike could wait; the rest would proceed as planned. In the ninth year, after two calm seasons, he regained second-rank insignia and was told to restore the old river and lake regime when conditions allowed. He wrote: "The Southern River's fate hangs on Qingjiang. Only if clear water runs out freely and scours Yellow silt can both the river and the grain route be saved. Yellow silt meant clear water had to stand several chi higher, and the dam had to stay open longer than it stayed shut, before the current could scour freely. Clear water now escaped only enough to stop backflow and keep grain moving; real scouring was still out of reach." In the twelfth year crowds in Taoyuan secretly dug the official dike to bleed the current and caused a breach. He was dismissed but kept on temporarily to serve out his duty. Censor Bao Wenchun and Imperial Clan vice director Pan Xien warned that Yellow water in the lake could block the canal. Mu Zhang'a and Tao Shu were sent to inspect and plan. He argued that once Yellow water entered the lake it rejoined the Yellow River through Wucheng's seven forts, silting only the dikes and not the lake itself or the Shuqing dam, so the canal would not suffer. With the main channel dry, we could dredge heavily between the Taonan and Taobei offices and cure the raised bed." In the thirteenth year the Yujiawan breach was sealed and he received fourth-rank insignia. He soon pleaded illness and went home. He died at home in the fifteenth year.

井任兩河凡十年。初治南河，銳意任事，洎興大工，糜帑三百餘萬而無成效，仍為補苴之計，用灌塘法，較勝借黃之險。勤於修守，世稱其亞於黎世序云。

Zhang Jing oversaw both river systems for ten years in all. He began on the Southern River with fierce energy, but major works swallowed more than three million taels without real gain. He fell back on stopgaps; pond irrigation for transport was safer than drawing on the Yellow River. Diligent in upkeep, his peers ranked him just below Li Shixu.

吳邦慶，字霽峰，順天霸州人。以拔貢官昌黎訓導。嘉慶元年，成進士，選庶吉士，授編修，遷御史。巡視東漕，奏請重浚運河，並復山東春兌春開舊制。數論河漕事，多被採用。十九年，擢鴻臚寺少卿，命偕內閣學士穆彰阿督濬北運河。累遷內閣侍讀學士。二十年，出為山西布政使，調河南，護理巡撫。二十三年，擢湖南巡撫，調福建，未之任，湘潭土客民群鬥，死傷甚眾。侍郎週系英面陳與邦慶疏奏有異，命總督慶保往按。邦慶亦發系英私書，系英獲譴；邦慶鐫級，以三品京堂用，補通政使。二十五年，擢兵部侍郎，調刑部，尋授安徽巡撫。

Wu Bangqing, styled Jifeng, came from Bazhou in Shuntian. A tribute graduate, he served as instructor at Changli. In Jiaqing 1 he passed the jinshi, entered the Hanlin Academy as a bachelor, became a compiler, and moved to the Censorate. While inspecting eastern grain transport he asked to re-dredge the canal and restore Shandong's old spring exchange and spring opening rules. He spoke often on rivers and transport, and much of what he said was taken up. In the nineteenth year he rose to vice minister of Honglu Temple and was paired with Mu Zhang'a to oversee dredging of the Northern Grand Canal. He rose to become a Grand Secretariat reader. In the twentieth year he became Shanxi fiscal commissioner, moved to Henan, and served as acting governor. In the twenty-third year he was made Hunan governor and reassigned to Fujian, but before he took up the post natives and settlers in Xiangtan rioted and many were killed or wounded. Vice Minister Zhou Xiying told the throne that his account differed from Bangqing's memorial, and Governor Qingbao was sent to investigate. Bangqing also leaked Xiying's private letters, and Xiying was censured; Bangqing was demoted to third rank, given a capital post, and made chief of transmission. In the twenty-fifth year he became vice minister of War, moved to Justice, and soon took charge as Anhui governor.

黃水注淮，鳳、潁被災，而皖南苦旱，親赴災區賑撫。涇縣民徐飛瀧傷斃，邦慶誤聽承審官謂由於徐孝芳捏傷圖賴，奏捕之，激眾拒捕。命兩江總督孫玉庭鞫治，得其狀，詔斥邦慶幾釀冤獄，部議革職，予編修。累遷少詹事。道光十年，授貴州按察使，未之任，予三品卿銜，署漕運總督，尋實授。禁糧船裝載蘆鹽，請緝拿沿河窩頓。十一年，調江西巡撫。

Yellow water flooded the Huai, Feng and Ying suffered, and southern Anhui baked in drought. He went in person to the stricken districts to relieve them. When Xu Feilong of Jing county died of his wounds, Bangqing wrongly believed the investigating officer that Xu Xiaofang had faked his injuries to extort money. He ordered an arrest, and the crowd rose to resist. Governor-General Sun Yuting was told to try the case and learned the truth. The court scolded Bangqing for nearly framing an innocent man; the ministry wanted him dismissed, but he was given a compiler post instead. He rose to junior tutor of the Heir Apparent. In Daoguang 10 he was named Guizhou judicial commissioner, but before he could take the post he received third-rank minister rank, served as acting grain-transport governor-general, and was confirmed in the post. He banned grain boats from hauling reed salt and asked for raids on riverside hoarding dens. In the eleventh year he became Jiangxi governor.

十二年，授河東河道總督，以不諳河務辭，不許。初，嚴烺在東河，多用碎石拋護，歷年歲料未有節省，詔飭覈減。邦慶疏請：「酌改舊章，每年防料經費四成辦稭，六成辦石。蘭儀、商虞、下北三廳現工險要，仍專案請辦碎石。所議六成之石，積儲數年，使各廳皆存二千，方緩急可恃，則專案之石亦可逐年遞減。」從之。武陟攔黃堰民築民修，嗣歸廳管，工段歲增。十三年，奏定畫界立石，官民分守，如有新生埽工，先借帑辦理，按河北三府攤徵歸款。以山東運河全賴泉源灌注，請復設泉河通判，以專責成。壽東汛滾水壩外舊有土堰，為蓄汶敵衛，以利漕運，大水鄉民私開釀事，奏立志椿。濟運之水以七尺為度，重運過竣，啟堰以利農田，如議行。

In the twelfth year he was made Eastern River governor-general. He pleaded ignorance of river work and was refused. Earlier, as Eastern River chief Yan Lang had leaned on rubble revetments; year after year the materials budget never shrank, until the throne ordered a review and cuts. Bangqing proposed: "Revise the old rules so forty percent of annual defense funds buy straw and sixty percent buy stone. The Lanyi, Shangyu, and Xiabei offices, where the work is most dangerous, should still get rubble by special petition. Stockpile the sixty-percent stone over several years until each office holds two thousand units; then emergencies will be covered and special rubble orders can taper off." The court agreed. Locals had built and kept up the Wuzhi Yellow River blocking weir; later it passed to bureau control and the managed stretches grew every year. In the thirteenth year he set boundaries with marker stones, split upkeep between officials and locals, and ruled that new revetments would be funded on loan and repaid by levy across the three Hebei prefectures. The Shandong canal depended entirely on spring water, so he asked to restore the Quanhe intendant to hold sole responsibility. Below the Shoudong rolling dam stood an old earth weir that stored Wen water to protect transport. In big floods villagers opened it illegally and trouble followed, so he asked for fixed boundary stakes. Transport water would be held to seven chi; once the heavy grain fleet passed, the weir would open for farmland. The plan was approved.

初，邦慶著畿輔水利叢書，後在官，考河南通省志乘所載有水田處，臚列其水之衰旺，溉田多寡之數，為渠田說。修防之暇，率道廳捐貲造水車，就馬營壩北及蔡家樓大窪積水地七千餘畝試行墾治。先是，邦慶因碎石工劾嚴烺，罷之。既而給事中金應麟亦劾邦慶保舉過濫，動撥過多，十五年，命大學士文孚、山東巡撫鍾祥按之，坐違例調地方人員改歸河工，及以屬員為幕僚，廳員饋銀不奏參，褫職。詔复斥其參劾嚴烺遲至三年之久，亦屬取巧，念在任三屆安瀾，加恩复予編修。年已七十，遂告歸。二十八年，卒。

Bangqing had once published a water-conservancy series on the capital region. In office he mined Henan's provincial gazetteers for irrigated districts, listed how their water rose and fell and how much land they watered, and wrote a treatise on canal fields. Between repair duties he had the circuit and bureaus fund water wheels and trial reclamation on more than seven thousand mu of flooded land north of Maying dam and at Caijialou hollow. Bangqing had earlier impeached Yan Lang over rubble works and got him dismissed. Supervising secretary Jin Yinglin then accused Bangqing of reckless promotions and excessive fund draws. In the fifteenth year Wen Fu and Shandong governor Zhong Xiang investigated. He was found to have improperly redirected local staff to river work, used subordinates as private secretaries, and ignored bureau officials' gift silver. He was dismissed. The edict also scolded him for waiting three years to impeach Yan Lang, calling it a cheap trick, but granted him compiler rank again for three calm seasons in office. At seventy he retired. He died in the twenty-eighth year.

栗毓美，字樸園，山西渾源人。嘉慶中，以拔貢考授佑縣，發河南。歷署溫、孟、安陽、河內、西華，補寧陵，所至著績。父憂歸，道光初，服闋，補武陟。遷光州直隸州知州，擢汝寧知府，調開封。歷糧鹽道、開歸陳許道、湖北按察使、河南布政使，護理巡撫。十五年，擢河東河道總督。

Li Yumei, styled Puyuan, came from Hunyuan in Shanxi. Under Jiaqing he passed the tribute examination for an appointment to You county and was posted to Henan. He acted as magistrate in Wen, Meng, Anyang, Henei, and Xihua, then took Ningling, and made a mark everywhere he served. He went home for his father's mourning. In early Daoguang, when the mourning ended, he was posted to Wuzhi. He became prefect of Guangzhou, rose to Runing prefect, and moved to Kaifeng. He served as grain-and-salt intendant, Kai-Gui-Chen-Xu intendant, Hubei judicial commissioner, and Henan fiscal commissioner, and acted as governor. In the fifteenth year he became Eastern River governor-general.

毓美自為令時，於黃、沁堤工，馬營壩工皆親其事，勤求河務。時串溝久為河患，串溝者，在堤河之間，始僅斷港積水，久而溝首受河，又久而溝尾入河，於是串溝遂成支河，而遠堤十餘里之河變為切近堤身，往往潰堤。毓美蒞任，乘小舟週曆南北兩岸，時北岸原武汛串溝受水已三百丈，行四十餘裡，至陽武，溝尾复灌入大河；又合沁河及武陟、滎澤諸灘水畢注堤下。兩汛素無工無稭，石堤南北皆水，不能取土築壩。毓美乃收買民磚，拋成磚壩數十所。工甫就而風雨大至，支河首尾皆決數十丈而堤不傷，於是始知磚之可用。疏陳辦理情形，以圖說進。

Even as a county magistrate he had handled Yellow and Qin dike work and the Maying dam himself, and kept at river affairs with fierce diligence. Serial gullies had long plagued the river. These cut channels between dike and mainstream began as stagnant pools, then took river water at the head and fed back at the tail until they became branch streams. Rivers once ten li from the dike drew near the embankment and often burst through. On taking office Yumei toured both banks by small boat. On the north bank at Yuanwu station a serial gully already took three hundred zhang of water, ran more than forty li to Yangwu, and poured back into the main channel; Qin River water and floods from the Wuzhi and Rongze shoals all poured against the dike base. Neither station had materials or straw on hand, and water on both sides of the stone dikes left no dry ground to build earth dams. Yumei bought up local bricks and built several dozen brick dams. The work had barely finished when storms hit. The branch stream tore open dozens of zhang at both ends, yet the dike held, and brick dams proved their worth. He reported what he had done and submitted illustrated plans.

尋又疏言：「王屋莊進水之口，較前更寬百餘丈，由中泓大灘益向南淤，溜勢南緩而北緊。南股正河成為迂道，北股之溜勢轉建瓴。其故由廣武山前老灘坍千餘丈，溜趨山根，為山所遏，折回東北，中泓挺生淤灘。水口既日見刷寬，從省估計，約需銀十餘萬兩。至原陽兩岸堤根，因沿陂試拋磚塊，深資偎護。月石壩堵合，加高幫寬，迤下楊村、封丘二汛，灘水已停淤，壩下七十餘村莊居民安堵。惟串溝分溜，關係北岸全局，不能緩至來年興工，已借撥銀兩估辦。」允之。是役支河危險，賴磚工化險為平。

He soon wrote again: "The intake at Wangwuzhuang is more than a hundred zhang wider than before. The main shoal keeps silting southward, so the current slackens in the south and runs harder in the north. The south branch of the main channel had become a backwater, while the north branch poured like water off a rooftop. Old shoals a thousand zhang wide in front of Guangwu Mountain had collapsed. The current ran to the mountain base, hit the slope, bent back northeast, and a new shoal rose in the main channel. The inlet was scouring wider every day; a lean estimate put the cost at more than one hundred thousand taels. Along the Yuanyang dikes on both banks, brick blocks cast along the slope gave the toe solid protection. The Yueshi dam was closed, raised, and widened. Downstream at Yangcun and Fengqiu shoals had stopped building up, and more than seventy villages below the dam lived in safety. But the serial gullies splitting the current touched the whole north bank and could not wait until next year; funds had already been borrowed and earmarked for the work." The court approved. That branch-stream project was perilous; brick works alone turned the crisis into a stable channel.

尋偕巡撫桂良勘奏：「老河分溜已有六分，王屋莊口寬勢順，磚土各壩未可深恃。原武十六堡當其頂沖，並有秦家廠、鹽店莊各灘水串溝分注，十七堡當支河尾閭皆險要，請購料豫防。」如議行。十六年，擇要挑濬修築魚台汛堤岸，改民堰歸運河廳。十八年，旱，漕艘阻滯。濬泉源及各湖進水渠道，嚴諸閘啟閉。又濬曹州、濟寧河渠。十九年，奏定微山湖收納運水章程，但計水存丈三尺以內，即築壩蓄水，加高戴村壩以防旁洩。

He soon inspected with Governor Gui Liang and reported: "Six-tenths of the flow already splits through the old channel. Wangwuzhuang mouth is wide and the current runs smoothly, but neither brick nor earth dams can be trusted for long. Yuanwu's sixteen forts take the full force of the current, while shoal water at Qinjiachang and Yandianzhuang feeds in through serial gullies. All seventeen forts at the branch stream tail are critical points; we ask to buy materials now and guard against trouble before it comes." The court approved and carried out the plan. In the sixteenth year he dredged and rebuilt critical sections of the Yutai station embankments and placed private weirs under the Grand Canal bureau. In the eighteenth year drought stalled the grain fleet. He dredged spring sources and lake inflow channels and tightened control over every sluice gate. He also dredged the Caozhou and Jining canal reaches. In the nineteenth year he set rules for Weishan Lake holding transport water: whenever storage stayed within one zhang three chi, dams would be built to impound it and Daicun Dam raised to stop side leakage.

初，毓美以磚工屢著成效，奏請許設窯燒造。御史李蓴疏言其不便，命尚書敬徵往勘，仍請改辦碎石，停止設窯。毓美上疏爭之曰：「豫省歷次失事，皆在無工處所。堤長千里，未能處處籌備。一旦河勢變遷，驟遇風雨，輒倉皇失措。幸而搶護平穩，埽工費已不貲。鑲埽引溜生工，久為河工所戒，昧者轉謂非此別無良策。查北岸為運道所關，往者原陽分溜，幾掣動全河，若非用磚拋護，費何可數計？今祥符下汛、陳留一汛灘水串注，堤根形勢，正與北岸同。濱河士民多有呈請用磚者，誠有見於磚工得力，為保田廬情至切也。夫事之有利於民者，斷無不利於國。特事近於創，難免浮言。前南河用石之始，眾議紛如，良由工程平穩，用料減少，販戶不能居奇。工簡務閒，遊客幕友不能幫辦謀生，是以妄生浮議，賴聖明獨斷，敕下東河試辦，至今永慶平成。惟自用碎石，請銀幾七十餘萬，嗣改辦六成碎石，然因購石不易，埽段愈深愈多，經費仍未能節省。自試辦磚壩，三年未生一新工，較前三年節省銀三十六萬。蓋豫省情形與江南不同，產石祗濟源、鞏縣，採運維艱。磚則沿河民窯不下數十座，隨地隨時無誤事機。且石性滑，入水流轉，磚性澀，入土即黏，卸成坦坡，自能挑溜。每方磚塊直六兩，石價則五六兩至十餘兩不等。碎石大小不一，堆垛半屬空虛。尺磚千塊為一方，平鋪計數，堆垛均實。每方石重五六千斤，而磚重九十餘斤，是一方石價購磚兩方，而拋磚一方可當石兩方之用也。或謂磚塊入土易損裂，不知磚得水更堅，拋成磚壩，一經淤泥，即已凝結；或謂拋築磚壩，近於與水爭地，不知堤前之地，尺寸在所必爭。自來鑲埽之法，堤前必先築土壩數十丈，然後用埽鑲，設磚壩則無須乎埽。師土壩之意，不泥其法，拋作坦坡，大溜自然外移，未有可築土壩而不可築磚壩者。上年盛漲，較二年及十二年尤猛迅，磚壩均屹立不移。儀睢、中河兩廳，河水下卸，塌灘匯壩，搶鑲埽段，旋即走失，用磚拋護，均能穩定。是用磚搶辦險工，較鑲埽更為便捷。昔衡工失事，因灘陷不能鑲埽；馬工失事，因補堤不能得碎石。使知用埽不如用磚，運磚易於運石，則費省而工已固。現在各廳無工之處，串溝隱患，必應未雨綢繆。若於黃、沁下南豫儲磚塊，則可有備無患。應儲之磚，仍令向民間採買，不必廳員燒造，此外別無流弊。」卒如所議行。遂請以四成辦稭之款改辦磚塊。

Early on, with brick works proving their worth again and again, Yumei asked permission to set up official kilns. Censor Li Chun objected that the plan was impractical. Minister Jing Zheng was sent to inspect and still recommended switching to rubble stone and shutting down the kilns. Yumei answered in a memorial: "Every breach in Henan has come at stretches with no permanent works. The embankment runs a thousand li, and we cannot fortify every foot of it. When the river suddenly changes course and storms hit, crews are left scrambling. Even when emergency repairs hold and the line stabilizes, fascine work already devours enormous sums. Drawing the current with inset fascines and thereby creating new critical points has long been taboo among river engineers, yet the uninformed insist there is no other remedy. The north bank carries the transport route. When Yuanyang once split the current it nearly dragged the whole river with it; without brick cast for protection, the cost would have been beyond reckoning. Today at Xiangfu lower station and Chenliu station shoal water pours in through serial gullies, and the toe of the dike faces the same danger as on the north bank. Riverside gentry and commoners have petitioned repeatedly for brick, having seen how well it works and how urgently they need to protect fields and homes. What truly helps the people cannot fail to help the state. Because the method is still new, gossip is inevitable. When the Southern River first turned to stone, critics were loud— mainly because steady works and lower material use kept suppliers from cornering the market. With simpler works and less busywork, travelers and clerks lost side income from the project, and rumor flourished. Only the emperor's firm order to trial the method on the Eastern River brought Yongqing lasting peace. Since relying on rubble stone alone, requests had run to nearly seven hundred thousand taels; even after cutting the mix to sixty percent rubble, stone remained hard to buy, fascine sections grew deeper and longer, and costs still could not be trimmed. After trial brick dams, no new emergency works arose in three years, and three hundred sixty thousand taels were saved compared with the previous three. Henan is not Jiangnan: stone comes only from Jiyuan and Gongxian, and getting it out and hauling it is painfully hard. Along the river private kilns number several dozen at least, so brick can be supplied on the spot and on schedule without missing the moment. Stone is slick and rolls in the current; brick is rough and grips the soil. Cast as a gentle slope it naturally pulls the main stream away. A square of brick blocks costs six taels, while stone ranges from five or six taels to more than ten. Rubble comes in uneven sizes, and half of any pile is empty space. One thousand one-foot bricks make a square; laid flat and counted, the pile is solid all the way through. A square of stone weighs five or six thousand jin against ninety-odd jin for brick: one square of stone money buys two squares of brick, and one square of cast brick does the work of two squares of stone. Some claim brick cracks once buried, not knowing it hardens in water; cast into a brick dam and packed with silt, it sets like rock; Others say brick dams mean fighting the river for every inch of ground— yet inch by inch before the dike is ground we must win. The old fascine method required dozens of zhang of earth dam in front of the dike before inset fascines could go in; a brick dam needs no fascines at all. Take the principle of the earth dam without copying every step: cast a gentle slope and the main current moves outward by itself. Anywhere an earth dam can stand, a brick dam can stand. Last year's flood ran harder even than those of the second and twelfth years, yet every brick dam held firm. At the Yisui and Zhonghe bureaus, as the river unloaded silt, banks caved in and shoals piled up. Emergency fascine sections washed away immediately, but brick casting held the line. Using brick to rush critical repairs is faster and surer than inset fascines. The Heng works failed when the shoal sank too far to inset fascines; the Ma works failed because repairs could not get rubble stone in time. Had they understood that fascines are weaker than brick and brick easier to haul than stone, they would have spent less and built something that lasted. Today every bureau still has unprotected stretches where serial gullies lurk; we must prepare before the rains come. Stockpiling brick blocks in south Henan below the Yellow and Qin rivers would leave us ready when trouble strikes. Stored brick should still be bought from local kilns, not fired by bureau staff— and beyond that there is no room for abuse." The court finally adopted his plan in full. He then proposed diverting forty percent of the straw-fascine budget to brick blocks.

又疏言：「從前治河用卷埽法，並有竹絡、木囷、磚石、柳葦。自用料鑲埽，以稭料為正宗，而險無定所，亦無一勞永逸之計。緣鑲埽陡立，易激水怒。其始水深不過數尺，鑲埽數段，引溜愈深，動輒數丈，無工變為險工。溜勢上提，必須添鑲；溜勢下坐，必須接鑲。片段愈長，防守愈難。新工既生，益形勞費。埽工無法減少，不得已而減土工，少購碎石，皆為苟且因循之計。自試拋磚壩，或用以杜新工，或用以護舊工，無不著有成效。且磚工不特資經久，而堆儲亦無風火堪虞。從此工固瀾安，益复培增土工，專用力於根本之地，既可免漫溢之患，亦保無衝決之虞。」宣宗深嘉納之。巡撫牛鑑入覲，諭以毓美治河得手，遇事毋掣其肘。二十年，京察，特予議敘。尋卒，優詔褒惜，贈太子太保，依總督例賜卹，賜其子燿進士，諡恭勤，祀名宦祠。

In another memorial he wrote: "River work once relied on rolled fascines, bamboo cages, wooden cribs, brick and stone, and willow and reed. Once inset fascines and straw fascines became the standard, danger shifted everywhere and no permanent fix remained. Inset fascines rise too steeply and easily provoke the current. Where water was only a few feet deep, a few inset fascine sections drew the current down several zhang and turned routine stretches into emergencies. When the current climbs, more fascines must be added; when it drops, the line must be extended downstream. Each extension makes the line harder to hold. Fresh emergencies multiply labor and cost. Because fascine work cannot be cut, officials trim earth work and buy less rubble stone— stopgaps that only postpone disaster. Since we began trial brick dams, whether to block new emergencies or shield old works, every case has paid off. Brick lasts, and stockpiles need not fear wind or fire. With works secure and the river quiet, we can rebuild earth embankments and spend on fundamentals— preventing both overflow and breach." Emperor Xuanzong warmly approved. When Governor Niu Jian came to court, he was told Yumei's river policy was working and warned not to interfere. In the twentieth year he received a special merit rating at the capital evaluation. He died soon after. The throne mourned him in a gracious edict, posthumously made him Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent, granted condolence payments on the governor-general scale, awarded his son Yao the jinshi degree, gave him the posthumous name Gongqin, and enshrined him in the local worthies temple.

毓美治河，風雨危險必躬親，河道曲折高下鄉背，皆所隱度。每曰：「水將抵某所，急備之。」或以為迂且勞費，毓美曰：「能知費之為省，乃真能費者也。」水至，乃大服。在任五年，河不為患。歿後吏民思慕，廟祀以為神，數著靈應，加封號，列入祀典。

Yumei met every storm and hazard in person, reading each bend, grade, and bank facing before the water arrived. He would say: "The water will hit such-and-such a point— get ready now." Others called it fussy and costly. Yumei replied: "Knowing when spending saves money is the only way to spend wisely." When the flood arrived, they were convinced. During five years in office the river never broke out. After his death officials and commoners missed him; a temple raised him to divine status, miracles were reported, honors multiplied, and he entered the state sacrificial rolls.

麟慶，字見亭，完顏氏，滿洲鑲黃旗人。嘉慶十四年進士，授內閣中書，遷兵部主事，改中允。道光三年，出為安徽徽州知府，調潁州，擢河南開歸陳許道。歷河南按察使、貴州布政使，護理巡撫。十三年，擢湖北巡撫。尋授江南河道總督，丁母憂，改署理，服闋，乃實授。疏陳籌辦南河情形，略曰：「近年河湖交敝，欲復舊制，不外蓄清刷黃。古人引導清水，三分濟運，七分刷黃，得力在磨盤埽。自廢棄後，河務漸壞，擬規复磨盤埽舊制。洪澤湖水甚寬，高家堰工絕險，各壩多封柴土蓄水，盛漲啟放，輒壞壩底，糜費不貲。應仿滾水壩成法，抬高石底，至蓄水尺寸為度。山圩五壩暨下游楊河境內車邏等壩，一遵奏定丈尺啟放，水定即行堵合。至黃河各工，當體察平險，節可緩之埽段，辦緊要之土工。一切疏浚器具，祗備運河挑挖。若黃河底淤，非人力所能強刷，惟儲備料工，遇險即搶，以防為治，而其要全在得人。又以蘆葦為工程必需，右營盪地荒廢，產蘆不足，請築圩蓄水以資灌溉。」疏入，詔嘉其言正當，勗慎勉從事。

Lin Qing, styled Jianting, of the Wanyan clan, was a Manchu of the Bordered Yellow Banner. A jinshi of Jiaqing 14, he entered the Secretariat as a drafter, rose to a clerkship in the Ministry of War, and then became a censor-in-waiting. In Daoguang 3 he became Huizhou prefect in Anhui, moved to Yingzhou, and was promoted to Henan's Kai-Gui-Chen-Xu intendant. He served as Henan judicial commissioner, Guizhou fiscal commissioner, and acting governor. In the thirteenth year he became governor of Hubei. He was soon named Southern River governor-general; after his mother's death he served in an acting post, and received the full appointment once mourning ended. In a memorial on Southern River policy he wrote: "River and lake alike have declined. Restoring the old order comes down to storing clear water to scour the Yellow River. The ancients sent clear water three parts to the canal and seven to scour the Yellow River, relying above all on the Millstone fascines. After it was abandoned river work slid downhill; I propose restoring the Millstone fascines. Hongze Lake spreads wide and the Gaojia Embankment is treacherous. Most dams are packed with brush and earth to hold water; opening them in flood season wrecks the foundations and wastes fortunes. We should follow relief-dam practice: raise the stone bed to the height needed for storage. Shanwei's five dams and downstream structures such as Chexiang in Yanghe should open only to the memorialized levels and be closed again as soon as the water drops. On the Yellow River itself we should weigh safe against dangerous points, defer nonessential fascine work, and concentrate on critical earth repairs. Dredging gear should be reserved for the Grand Canal alone. Silt on the Yellow River bed cannot be scoured away by manpower alone. We can only stock materials and crews, rush repairs when danger appears, and treat prevention as policy— but success depends on having the right officials. Reeds are indispensable to the works, yet the Right Garrison shoals lie idle and supply is short; he asked to build polders to store water and restore reed farming." The throne praised the memorial as sound and urged him to proceed carefully.

十四年，以洪澤湖老子山西北挑砌石壩，東西沙路加築碎石，高出湖面，以便水師巡哨及商民停泊，疏請淮海、常鎮等道另案用銀。詔以南河連歲安瀾，而工用日增，切責之。十九年，修惠濟正閘、福興越閘。會河湖並漲，險工疊生，請例外撥銀五十萬，詔允之，戒嗣後不得援例。署兩江總督。二十一年，河決祥符，黃水匯注洪澤湖，南河無事，詔嘉其化險為夷，予議敘。二十二年，英吉利兵艦入江，命籌淮、揚防務以保運道，請以鹽運使但明倫備防揚州，以清江為後路策應，捕內匪陳三虎等誅之。秋，河決桃北崔鎮汛，值漕船回空，改由中河灌塘，通行無誤，詔念防務及濟運勞，革職，免罪。二十三年，發東河中牟工效力，工竣，以四品京堂候補。尋予二等侍衛，充庫倫辦事大臣，乞病未行。病痊，仍改四品京堂。尋卒。著有黃運河口古今圖說、河工器具圖說。子崇實、崇厚，並自有傳。

In the fourteenth year he built a stone dam northwest of Laozi Mountain on Hongze Lake and raised east and west sand paths with rubble stone above lake level so patrol boats and merchant craft could moor. He asked the Huai-Hai, Chang-Zhen, and other circuits to fund it separately. The throne rebuked him sharply: the Southern River had stayed calm for years, yet costs kept climbing. In the nineteenth year he repaired the Huiji main sluice and the Fuxing oversluice. When lake and river rose together and emergencies multiplied, he requested an exceptional five hundred thousand taels. The court granted it but warned against citing the case again. He acted as governor-general of the Two Jiangs. In the twenty-first year the river broke at Xiangfu and Yellow River water flooded into Hongze Lake, yet the Southern River held. The throne praised him for turning danger into safety and granted a merit rating. In the twenty-second year British warships entered the Yangzi. Ordered to organize Huai-Yang defenses for the transport route, he put Salt Transport Commissioner Dan Minglun in charge at Yangzhou with Qingjiang as a fallback and had the bandit Chen Sanhu and his followers captured and executed. That autumn the river broke at Cuizhen station north of Taobei while the grain fleet was returning empty. He shifted traffic through the middle route and filled ponds to keep boats moving without delay. The throne acknowledged his defense and transport work, removed him from office, and spared further punishment. In the twenty-third year he was sent to atone through service at Zhongmou on the Eastern River; when the work ended he awaited appointment as a fourth-rank capital official. He was soon made a second-rank imperial guardsman and named Kuren commissioner, but pleaded illness and never took up the post. After he recovered he was again listed as a fourth-rank capital official. He died soon after. He wrote Illustrated Accounts of the Yellow and Transport River Mouths, Ancient and Modern, and Illustrated Accounts of River-Engineering Implements. His sons Chongshi and Chonghou are each treated in separate biographies.

潘錫恩，字芸閣，安徽涇縣人。嘉慶十六年進士，選庶吉士，授編修。大考第一，超擢侍讀。道光四年，復大考一等，擢侍讀學士。時河患急，錫恩上疏條陳河務，略曰：「蓄清敵黃，為相傳成法。大汛將至，急堵禦黃壩，使黃水全力東趨。今年漕艘早渡，因禦黃壩遲堵，以致倒灌停淤，釀成大患。且欲籌減洩，當在下游，乃輒開祥符徬，減黃入湖。壩口已灌於下，徬口復灌於上，黃水俱無出路，湖底淤墊極高。若更引黃入運，河道淤滿，處處壅溢，恐有決口之患。」宣宗韙其議。五年，命以道員發往南河，補淮揚道。六年，加三品頂戴，授南河副總河。九年，母憂去官，服闋，授光祿寺卿。歷宗人府府丞、左副都御史，督順天學政。擢兵部侍郎，調吏部，仍留學政。十九年，內監狄文學以甥考試被黜，至錫恩私宅言所取錄多出請託，挾制訛詐，錫恩疏聞，特詔論文學大辟。二十二年，疏言：「黃河自桃北崔鎮汛、蕭家莊北決口穿運河，壞遙堤，歸入六塘河東注。正河自揚工以下斷流，去清口約有六七十里之遠，回空漕船，阻於宿遷以上。臣前任淮揚道時，詳辨戽水通船之法，行之十餘年，幸無貽誤。今若於中河西口外築箝口壩，添設草徬，以為黃水啟閉之用，即將楊家壩作攔清堰，以為清水啟閉之用。就中河運道為一大塘，道里長則容船眾，兩次啟閉，漕船可以全渡。惟黃水先已灌入運河，中泓淤墊，兩岸纖堤亦恐有衝缺，趕緊修濬，計需費亦不甚多。此時果可回空。來年即可出重，則蕭莊決口不妨從緩堵築。儻此法趕辦不及，祗有竟用引黃濟運之法。其臨黃箝口壩草徬照式築作，引黃水入壩送船，沿途多築對頭小壩，以偪溜刷深，庶免淤滯之患。迨出楊莊，匯入清河之水，即可牽挽南行。蓋南岸不可藉黃者，恐其淤湖淤運。今所引黃水，一出楊莊口，仍歸舊河，自可用清口之水以刷滌之，應無流弊。」並以圖說進，下河督麟慶議行。麟慶亦主用灌塘法，與錫恩言合，尋代麟慶為江南河道總督。

Pan Xien, styled Yunge, came from Jing County in Anhui. Named jinshi in Jiaqing 16, he entered the Hanlin Academy as a probationary academician and became a compiling editor. He placed first in the palace examination and was promoted directly to reader-in-waiting. In Daoguang 4 he again ranked first in the palace examination and was made a reader of the Secretariat. With the river in crisis, Xien submitted a detailed memorial on river policy. In essence: "Holding clear water to counter Yellow water is the method handed down through generations. When the great flood season nears, seal the Yellow-blocking dam at once so the Yellow River can run east unimpeded. This year the grain fleet crossed early, but because the Yellow-blocking dam was closed late, backflow and silt deposits piled up into a major disaster. If we mean to relieve pressure, that should happen downstream— yet the Xiangfu spillway was opened again and again to divert Yellow water into the lake. Water poured in below at the dam and above at the spillway until the Yellow River had nowhere to go and the lake bottom silted up to extraordinary heights. If we also draw Yellow water into the Grand Canal, the channel will choke with silt, overflows will break out everywhere, and breaches will follow." The Daoguang Emperor endorsed his analysis. In the fifth year he was sent to the Southern River as a circuit intendant and appointed to the Huai-Yang circuit. In the sixth year he received third-rank insignia and was made vice commissioner of the Southern River. In the ninth year he resigned for his mother's mourning. After the mourning period he became minister of the Court of Imperial Entertainments. He served as vice director of the Imperial Clan Court and left vice censor-in-chief, and supervised as Shuntian education commissioner. Promoted to vice minister of War and transferred to Personnel, he kept the education commissionership. In the nineteenth year the eunuch Di Wenxue came to Xien's home after his nephew failed the examination, claiming most successful candidates owed their places to favor-seeking and trying to extort him. Xien reported the matter, and an imperial edict condemned Wenxue to death. In the twenty-second year he wrote: "The Yellow River broke north of Cuizhen station at Taobei and north of Xiajiazhuang, cut through the Grand Canal, destroyed the outer embankment, and poured east into the Liutang River. The main channel below the Yangzhou works ran dry some sixty or seventy li short of Qingkou, and returning empty grain barges were stuck above Suqian. When I was Huai-Yang intendant I worked out a pond-filling method to lift water for boats. We used it for more than ten years without disaster. Build a clamping dam outside the west mouth of the middle channel and add brush spillways to control Yellow water; turn Yangjia Dam into a clear-water weir to control the clear flow. Treat the middle route as one long pond. The longer the reach, the more boats it holds; two rounds of opening and closing would carry the entire grain fleet across. Yellow water has already flooded the Grand Canal, the main channel is silted, and the narrow banks may have breached; dredging is urgent, but the cost should not be large. That would allow the returning fleet to pass now. Next year's northbound grain could follow, and the Xiaozhuang breach could wait. If we cannot finish that plan in time, we must fall back on drawing Yellow water to aid transport. Build matching Yellow-facing clamping dams and brush spillways, let Yellow water into the pond to float the boats, and erect opposing small dams along the route to force the current and scour the channel deep, avoiding silt buildup. Once boats pass Yangzhuang and meet the Qing River, they can be towed south. The south bank cannot use Yellow water because it would silt both lake and canal. The Yellow water we propose would leave at Yangzhuang, rejoin the old channel, and be scoured clean with water from Qingkou; it should leave no lasting damage." He submitted illustrated plans as well, and the memorial went to river governor Lin Qing, who approved it for action. Lin Qing also advocated pond irrigation for transport and agreed with Xien; Xien soon replaced him as Jiangnan river governor-general.

時揚工漫溢，尚書敬徵等查勘，堵築決口，開挖引河，接挑長河淤墊，估銀五百七十萬兩有奇。御史雷以諴奏決口無庸堵合，祗須改舊河為支河，以通運道而節糜費，下錫恩會議。錫恩奏覆：「灌口非可行河之地，北岸無可改河之理，請仍堵築決口。漕船回空，仍由中河灌塘。」命侍郎成剛、府尹李僡赴工會同錫恩督辦。二十三年，夫工以下挑河四萬一百九十餘丈，工竣，啟除界壩，放水通暢。會河南中牟河決，黃水注湖，請放山盱各壩宣洩湖水，並將夫工導出湖水，引入中河，暫濟鹽柴轉運。復以上游河水陡落，間有淤墊，請改估蕭工以下未挑之工，並挑築大堤單薄卑矮處。是秋，湖水接長，掣卸高堰石工四千餘丈，搶護未決。二十四年，黃流未復故道，急籌濟運，並宣洩湖水，請啟放外南廳屬順清河，導引入河歸海。軍船抵壩，即由其處放渡，並於外南之北攔黃壩址築鉗口土壩，以資停蓄。尋奏：「黃河上游六月間陡長水丈餘，山盱林家西壩、舊義河直壩、及仁義河中間攔堰，間有掣塌，補修完密。裡、河、揚三廳承受洪湖之水，兩岸纖堤舊有護埽者，致多刷蟄，亦擇要加鑲。」二十五年，中牟工始合龍，南河連年無險。

The Yangzhou works were overflowing. Minister Jingzheng and others surveyed the site: blocking the breach, cutting diversion channels, and dredging the long channel would cost more than 5.7 million taels. Censor Lei Yixin argued the breach should not be closed— turn the old channel into a branch to serve transport and save money. The court referred the matter to Xien. Xien replied: "Guankou cannot carry a river, and there is no sound way to reroute on the north bank. The breach should still be closed. Returning grain barges should still pass through the middle route by pond filling." Vice Minister Cheng Gang and Prefect Li Bin were sent to the site to supervise the work with Xien. In the twenty-third year more than 41,900 zhang of channel below Fugong was dredged. When the work ended the boundary dam was removed and water ran freely. When the river broke at Zhongmou in Henan and Yellow water flooded the lake, he asked to open the Shan-Xu dams to release lake water, channel it from Fugong into the middle route, and temporarily sustain salt and firewood transport. Upstream water had fallen sharply and silt had begun to collect again; he asked to revise estimates for undredged work below Xiaogong and rebuild stretches where the main dike was thin and low. That autumn the lake kept rising. More than 4,000 zhang of stone work on the high weir gave way, but emergency repairs held the line. In the twenty-fourth year the Yellow River had not returned to its old channel. To sustain transport and drain the lake, he asked to open Shunqing River under the Outer South bureau and channel it to the sea. Military boats would cross as soon as they reached the dam; north of Outer South an earthen clamping dam would be built on the old Yellow-blocking site to hold back water. He soon reported: "In June upstream Yellow River levels surged more than a zhang. The Linjia West dam at Shan-Xu, the Old Yihe straight dam, and the middle weir on the Renyi River all partly failed; repairs made them sound again. The Li, He, and Yang bureaus take Hong Lake water. Narrow banks that once had fascine protection had scoured badly; critical stretches were reinforced." In the twenty-fifth year the Zhongmou project closed. The Southern River stayed free of crisis for years on end.

二十八年，以病乞歸。咸豐中，命在籍治捐輸團練。八年，前江西巡撫張芾劾其勸捐無狀，褫職。同治三年，捐京倉米折，復原銜，命赴安徽廬州會辦勸捐守禦事。五年，鄉舉重逢，加太子少保。六年，卒。漕運總督張之萬疏陳錫恩治績，賜祭葬，諡文慎，入祀鄉賢祠。

In the twenty-eighth year he retired because of illness. During the Xianfeng reign he was ordered to organize donations and local militia at home. In the eighth year former Jiangxi governor Zhang Fu impeached him for misconduct in soliciting donations, and he was dismissed. In Tongzhi 3 he donated grain cash for the Beijing granaries, had his original rank restored, and was sent to Luzhou in Anhui to help organize donations and local defense. In the fifth year, on the anniversary of his provincial examination success, he received the title Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent. He died in the sixth year. Grain Transport Governor-General Zhang Zhiwan memorialized Xien's record in office. The court granted funeral honors, gave the posthumous name Wenshen, and enshrined him in the local worthies hall.

子駿文，入貲為刑部郎中，改山東知府。咸豐末，捻匪犯省城，駿文率兵團迎擊於段家店，卻之。署青州，平淄川鳳皇山土匪，擢道員。同治中，巡撫閻敬銘、丁寶楨皆倚之。從寶楨會剿捻匪，塞河侯家林，功尤多，授兗沂曹道。光緒中，遷按察使。坐事降調，以諳習河事，仍留山東。歷治上下游要工，調河南鄭工，專任西壩，以合龍愆期，革職留工，工竣，復原官。授山西按察使，護理巡撫，遷福建布政使。十九年，卒於官。山東士民以其治河功，請建專祠。

His son Junwen bought an appointment as a director in the Ministry of Justice and later became prefect of Shandong. Late in the Xianfeng reign Nian bandits threatened the provincial capital. Junwen led local militia against them at Duandian and drove them off. While acting at Qingzhou he suppressed bandits on Fenghuang Mountain in Zichuan and was promoted to circuit intendant. During the Tongzhi reign both Governors Yan Jingming and Ding Baozhen leaned heavily on him. Serving under Baozhen against the Nian, he blocked the river at Houjialin and won especially high credit; he was made Yan-Yi-Cao intendant. Under Guangxu he became judicial commissioner. After a demotion for misconduct he stayed in Shandong because of his river expertise. He handled critical works up and down the river, then went to the Zhengzhou project in Henan in charge of the west dam. When the closure ran late he was dismissed but kept on site; when the work ended his rank was restored. He became Shanxi judicial commissioner and acting governor, then moved to Fujian as fiscal commissioner. He died in office in the nineteenth year. Shandong scholars and commoners asked for a shrine in his honor for his river work.

論曰：河患至道光朝而愈亟，南河為漕運所累，愈治愈壞。自張文浩蓄清肇禍，高堰決而運道阻。嚴烺畏首畏尾，湖河並不能治。張井創議改河，而不敢執咎，迄於無成，灌塘濟運，賴以彌縫。麟慶、潘錫恩循其成法，幸無大敗而已。吳邦慶講求水利，而治河未有顯績。栗毓美實心實力，卓為當時河臣之冠，不獨磚工創法為可紀也。東河自毓美後，硃襄、鍾祥、文沖繼之，祥符、中牟迭決，東河遂益棘矣。

The historians observe: By the Daoguang reign river crisis had grown acute. The Southern River, chained to the grain transport, only deteriorated under repeated repairs. Since Zhang Wenhao's policy of holding clear water set disaster in motion, the Gaoya breach had blocked the transport route. Yan Lang vacillated at every turn and mastered neither lake nor river. Zhang Jing proposed rerouting the river but would not accept responsibility; the plan came to nothing. Pond irrigation for transport alone kept the system patched together. Lin Qing and Pan Xien followed that established practice and were lucky to avoid outright catastrophe— and nothing more. Wu Bangqing studied water management but achieved nothing conspicuous in river work. Li Yumei worked with genuine dedication and stood head and shoulders above the river officials of his day—not only for inventing brick works. After Yumei on the Eastern River came Zhu Xiang, Zhong Xiang, and Wen Chong in turn. Breaks at Xiangfu and Zhongmou followed one another, and the Eastern River grew steadily more dangerous.

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