Volume 95 Treatises 48: Rivers and Canals 5

漳河滹沱河御河塘濼緣邊諸水河北諸水岷江

Zhang River; Hutuo River; Imperial Canal; border waters of the ponds and marshes; various rivers of Hebei; Min River

漳河源於西山，由磁、洺州南入冀州新河鎮，與胡盧河合流，其後變徙，入于大河。

The Zhang River rises in the western mountains and, passing south through Cizhou and Mingzhou, enters Jizhou at Xinhe Town, where it joins the Hulu River; later it changed course and flowed into the Great River.

神宗熙寧三年，詔程昉同河北提點刑獄王廣廉相視。四年，開修，役兵萬人，袤一百六十里。帝因與大臣論財用，文彥博曰：「足財用在乎安百姓，安百姓在乎省力役。且河久不開，不出於東，則出於西，利害一也。今發夫開治，徙東從西，何利之有？」王安石曰：「使漳河不由地中行，則或東或西，為害一也。治之使行地中，則有利而無害。勞民，先王所謹，然以佚道使民，雖勞不可不勉。」會京東、河北大風，三月，詔曰：「風變異常，當安靜以應天災。漳河之役妨農，來歲為之未晚。」中書格詔不下。尋有旨權令罷役，程昉憤恚，遂請休退。朝廷令以都水丞領淤田事於河上。

In the third year of the Xining era under Emperor Shenzong, the court ordered Cheng Fang and Wang Guanglian, Hebei intendant for penal affairs, to inspect the river. In the fourth year work began; ten thousand troops were mobilized along a stretch of one hundred sixty li. While the emperor was discussing finances with his ministers, Wen Yanbo said, "A full treasury depends on securing the people, and securing the people depends on easing corvée burdens. Besides, if the river is left unopened for long, whether it breaks east or west, the balance of benefit and harm is the same. To mobilize laborers now and shift the channel from east to west—what good would that do?" Wang Anshi replied, "If the Zhang River is not made to run in a proper channel through the terrain, it will harm the land whether it turns east or west. Channel it so it runs in a controlled course, and the project will bring benefit without harm. Burdening the people is what the ancient kings guarded against; yet when the people are led by a policy of lasting ease, even arduous work must be undertaken." At that time violent winds struck Jingdong and Hebei. In the third month an edict declared, "These winds are an omen; the court should respond to Heaven's warning with restraint. The Zhang River works interfere with agriculture; postponing them until next year will not be too late." The Secretariat blocked the edict and refused to promulgate it. Soon an order temporarily suspended the work. Cheng Fang, enraged, petitioned to retire. The court then appointed him Director of the Directorate of Waterways to oversee silt-field projects along the river.

五月，御史劉摯言：「昉等開修漳河，凡用九萬夫。物料本不預備，官私應急，勞費百倍。逼人夫夜役，踐蹂田苗，發掘墳墓，殘壞桑柘，不知其數。愁怨之聲，流播道路，而昉等妄奏民間樂於工役。河北廂軍，剗刷都盡，而昉等仍乞於洺州調急夫，又欲令役兵不分番次，其急切擾攘，至於如此。乞重行貶竄，以謝疲民。」中丞楊繪亦以為言。王安石為昉辨說甚力，後卒開之。五年，工畢，昉與大理寺丞李宜之、知洺州黃秉推恩有差。

In the fifth month Censor Liu Zhi memorialized, "In opening and repairing the Zhang River, Cheng Fang and his colleagues employed ninety thousand laborers in all. Materials had not been stockpiled beforehand, and emergency levies on officials and commoners multiplied the cost of labor a hundredfold. Laborers were driven to night work, trampling fields, opening graves, and destroying mulberry and catalpa groves beyond reckoning. Cries of resentment echoed along the highways, yet Cheng Fang and his colleagues falsely reported that the people welcomed the corvée. Hebei garrison troops were exhausted to the last man, yet they still sought emergency levies from Mingzhou and wanted corvée troops kept on duty without rotation—such was the turmoil they caused. I beg that they be severely demoted and banished as amends to the exhausted populace." Vice Censor-in-Chief Yang Hui spoke likewise. Wang Anshi defended Cheng Fang with great force, and the river was eventually opened. In the fifth year the project was finished; Cheng Fang, Li Yizhi of the Court of Judicial Review, and Huang Bing, prefect of Mingzhou, received graded rewards.

七年六月，知冀州王慶民言：「州有小漳河，向為黃河北流所壅，今河已東，乞開浚。」詔外都水監相度而已。

In the sixth month of the seventh year Wang Qingmin, prefect of Jizhou, reported, "Our prefecture has a minor Zhang River long choked by the Yellow River's north-flowing course; now that the main river has moved east, I request dredging." The court ordered only that the outer Directorate of Waterways survey the proposal.

滹沱河源於西山，由真定、深州、乾寧，與御河合流。

The Hutuo River rises in the western mountains, runs through Zhending, Shenzhou, and Qianning, and merges with the Imperial Canal.

神宗熙甯元年，河水漲溢，詔都水監、河北轉運司疏治。六年，深州、祁州、永甯軍修新河。八年正月，發夫五千人，並胡盧河增治之。

In the first year of the Xining era the river overflowed; the Directorate of Waterways and the Hebei transport commission were ordered to dredge and manage it. In the sixth year Shenzhou, Qizhou, and Yongning Circuit repaired the new channel. In the first month of the eighth year five thousand laborers were called up and the Hulu River was improved along with it.

元豐四年正月，北外都水丞陳祐甫言：「滹沱自熙寧八年以後，氾濫深州諸邑，為患甚大。諸司累相度不決，謂其下流舊入邊吳、宜子澱，最為便順，而屯田司懼填淤塘濼，煩文往復，無所適從。昨差官計之，若障入胡盧河，約用工千六百萬，若治程昉新河，約用工六百萬，若依舊入邊吳等澱，約用工二十九萬，其工費固已相遠。乞嚴立期會，定歸一策。」詔河北屯田轉運司同北外都水丞司相視。

In the first month of the fourth year of Yuanfeng, Chen Youfu, outer vice director of the northern Directorate of Waterways, reported, "Since the eighth year of Xining the Hutuo has repeatedly flooded the districts of Shenzhou, inflicting severe damage. Agencies surveyed the problem again and again without resolution. They held that the old lower course into the border marshes Wu and Yizi was the most convenient route, but the agricultural colony office feared silting the ponds and marshes, and memorials shuttled back and forth without a decision. Recent calculations showed that diverting the river into the Hulu would require roughly sixteen million units of labor; regulating Cheng Fang's new channel about six million; and restoring the old course into the Wu and other border marshes about two hundred ninety thousand—the disparity in cost is already vast. I beg that a firm deadline be imposed and a single policy adopted." The court ordered the Hebei agricultural colony and transport offices, together with the northern outer Directorate of Waterways, to inspect the site.

五年八月癸酉，前河北轉運副使周革言：「熙甯中，程昉於真定府中渡創系浮梁，增費數倍。既非形勢控扼，請歲八九月易以版橋，至四五月防河即拆去，權用船渡。」從之。

On guiyou of the eighth month of the fifth year, former Hebei vice transport commissioner Zhou Ge said, "During the Xining era Cheng Fang erected a chained pontoon bridge at Zhongdu in Zhending Prefecture at several times the usual cost. It commands no strategic choke point. I ask that each year from the eighth to the ninth month it be replaced by a plank bridge, and from the fourth to the fifth month, during flood defense, dismantled in favor of ferry boats." The court approved.

御河源出衛州共城縣百門泉，自通利、乾寧入界河，達於海。

The Imperial Canal rises at Baimen Spring in Gongcheng County, Weizhou, runs through Tongli and Qianning into the Border Canal, and reaches the sea.

神宗熙寧二年九月，劉彝、程昉言：「二股河北流今已閉塞，然御河水由冀州下流，尚當疏導，以絕河患。」先是，議者欲于恩州武城縣開御河約二十里，入黃河北流故道，下五股河，故命彝、昉相度。而通判冀州王庠謂，第開見行流處，下接胡盧河，尤便近。彝等又奏：「如庠言，雖於河流為順，然其間漫淺沮洳，費工猶多，不若開烏欄堤東北至大、小流港，橫截黃河，入五股河，復故道，尤便。」遂命河北提舉糴便糧草皮公弼、提舉常平王廣廉按視，二人議協，詔調鎮、趙、邢、洺、磁、相州兵夫六萬浚之，以寒食後入役。

In the ninth month of the second year of Emperor Shenzong's Xining reign, Liu Yi and Cheng Fang reported, "The north-flowing branch of the Yellow River's twin channels is now sealed, yet the Imperial Canal water still flows down through Jizhou's lower course and should be dredged to end river disasters." Earlier planners had proposed opening roughly twenty li of the Imperial Canal at Wucheng in Enzhou to join the old north-flowing Yellow River channel and descend to the Five Channels River; Liu Yi and Cheng Fang had been sent to survey accordingly. Vice Prefect Wang Xiang of Jizhou argued that opening only the existing channel and connecting it downstream to the Hulu River would be far more convenient. Liu Yi and his colleagues added, "Wang Xiang's route follows the stream, but the intervening ground is shallow and boggy and would still cost heavy labor. Better to open east from Wulan Embankment to Great and Small Liugang, cut across the Yellow River into the Five Channels River, and restore the old course—that is far more advantageous." Pi Gongbi, Hebei intendant for grain purchase, and Wang Guanglian, intendant for the Ever-Normal Granary, were ordered to inspect; they agreed, and the court mobilized sixty thousand laborers from Zhen, Zhao, Xing, Ming, Ci, and Xiang to dredge the canal, with work to begin after the Cold Food Festival.

三年正月，韓琦言：「河朔累經災傷，雖得去年夏秋一稔，瘡痍未復。而六州之人，奔走河役，遠者十一二程，近者不下七八程，比常歲勞費過倍。兼鎮、趙兩州，舊以次邊，未嘗差夫，一旦調發，人心不安。又於寒食後入役，比滿一月，正妨農務。」詔河北都轉運使劉庠相度，如可就寒食前入役，即亟興工，仍相度最遠州縣，量減差夫，而輟修塘堤兵千人代其役。二月，琦又奏：「御河漕運通流，不宜減大河夫役。」於是止令樞密院調兵三千，並都水監卒二千。三月，又益發壯城兵三千，仍詔提舉官程昉等促迫功限。六月，河成，詔昉赴闕，遷宮苑副使。四年，命昉為都大提舉黃、禦等河。

In the first month of the third year Han Qi memorialized, "Hebei has suffered disaster upon disaster. Though last summer and autumn brought one good harvest, the region has not recovered. People of the six prefectures are now rushed to river corvée: the farthest travel eleven or twelve post-stages, the nearest no fewer than seven or eight, so that expense more than doubles an ordinary year. Zhen and Zhao, which formerly lay in the second defensive tier and were never levied for corvée, are suddenly called up, unsettling the populace. Work is moreover scheduled after the Cold Food Festival; a full month of labor would fall squarely in the planting season." The court ordered chief Hebei transport commissioner Liu Xiang to survey whether work could start before the Cold Food Festival; if feasible, begin immediately, reduce levies in the most distant counties, and replace corvée with a thousand troops drawn from embankment repair. In the second month Han Qi memorialized again, "Grain transport on the Imperial Canal must flow unimpeded; labor on the Great River should not be cut." The court then mobilized only three thousand troops from the Bureau of Military Affairs and two thousand men from the Directorate of Waterways. In the third month another three thousand stronghold troops were added, and Cheng Fang and other supervisors were ordered to enforce the schedule. In the sixth month the canal was finished; Cheng Fang was summoned to court and promoted to deputy commissioner of the Palace Parks. In the fourth year Cheng Fang was appointed overall intendant for the Yellow River, Imperial Canal, and related waterways.

八年，昉與劉璯言：「衛州沙河湮沒，宜自王供埽開浚，引大河水注之御河，以通江、淮漕運。仍置斗門，以時啟閉。其利有五：王供危急，免河勢變移而別開口地，一也。漕舟出汴，橫絕沙河，免大河風濤之患，二也。沙河引水入於御河，大河漲溢，沙河自有限節，三也。御河漲溢，有斗門啟閉，無沖注淤塞之弊，四也。德、博舟運，免數百里大河之險，五也。一舉而五利附焉。請發卒萬人，一月可成。」從之。

In the eighth year Cheng Fang and Liu Jin reported, "The Sha River in Weizhou is choked with silt. It should be dredged from Wanggong Embankment to channel Great River water into the Imperial Canal for Jiang-Huai grain transport. Sluice gates should be installed to open and close with the seasons. Five benefits follow: Wanggong is critically exposed; this avoids shifting the river and cutting a new breach—that is the first. Grain boats leaving the Bian Canal would cross the Sha River and escape the Great River's wind and waves—that is the second. When the Great River floods, channeling water into the Sha and then the Imperial Canal would let the Sha itself limit the surge—that is the third. If the Imperial Canal rises, sluice gates would regulate the flow and prevent destructive flooding and silting—that is the fourth. Boats from De and Bo prefectures would avoid hundreds of li of peril on the Great River—that is the fifth. A single project would secure all five advantages. I request ten thousand troops; the work can be finished in one month." The court approved.

九年秋，昉奏畢功。中書欲論賞，帝令河北監司案視保明，大名安撫使文彥博覆實。十月，彥博言：

In the autumn of the ninth year Cheng Fang reported completion. The Secretariat proposed rewards, but the emperor ordered Hebei supervisory officials to investigate and certify the project, with Wen Yanbo, pacification commissioner of Daming, to verify. In the tenth month Wen Yanbo reported:

去秋開舊沙河，取黃河行運，欲通江、淮舟楫，徹于河北極邊。自今春開口放水，後來漲落不定，所行舟郐伐皆輕載，有害無利，枉費功料極多。今御河上源，止是百門泉水，其勢壯猛，至衛州以下，可勝三四百斛之舟，四時行運，未嘗阻滯。堤防不至高厚，亦無水患。今乃取黃河水以益之，大即不能吞納，必致決溢；小則緩漫淺澀，必致淤澱。凡上下千餘里，必難歲歲開浚。況此河穿北京城中，利害易睹。今始初冬，已見阻滯，恐年歲間，反壞久來行運。儻謂通江、淮之漕，即尤不然。自江、浙、淮、汴入黃河，順流而下，又合於御河，大約歲不過一百萬斛。若自汴順流徑入黃河，達於北京，自北京和雇車乘，陸行入倉，約用錢五六千緡，卻於御河裝載赴邊城，其省工役、物料及河清衣糧之費，不可勝計。

Last autumn the old Sha River was opened to carry Yellow River water for transport, intending to extend Jiang-Huai shipping to Hebei's farthest frontier. Since the sluice was opened this spring, water levels have fluctuated unpredictably. Every boat and barge that passed carried only light cargo: harm without gain, and materials squandered on a vast scale. The upper Imperial Canal today carries only the Baimen spring; its current is powerful. Below Weizhou it easily bears vessels of three or four hundred hu, and shipping runs year-round without blockage. Its dikes need not be unusually high or thick, and it suffers no flood disaster. Now Yellow River water is added to swell it. In flood it cannot be contained and will surely burst its banks; in low water it slackens, shoals, and silts, and sediment will surely accumulate. Along more than a thousand li upstream and downstream, annual dredging would be scarcely possible. Moreover this canal runs through the Northern Capital itself—its risks are obvious. Barely into early winter, obstructions are already evident; within a year or two it may destroy transport that has worked for years. To claim it links Jiang-Huai grain routes is especially wrong. Grain from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Huai, and the Bian Canal enters the Yellow River downstream and then the Imperial Canal—altogether no more than one million hu per year. If grain went from Bian straight down the Yellow River to the Northern Capital, then carts hired at the capital would haul it overland into the granaries for five or six thousand strings of cash, and only then be loaded on the Imperial Canal for the border—saving corvée, materials, and the clothing-and-ration costs of river-clearing crews beyond calculation.

又去冬，外監丞欲于北京黃河新堤開置水口，以通行運，其策尤疏。此乃熙寧四年秋黃河下注御河之處，當時朝廷選差近臣，督役修塞，所費不貲。大名、恩冀之人，至今瘡痍未平，今奈何反欲開口導水耶？都水監雖令所屬相視，而官吏恐忤建謀之官，止作遷延，回報謂俟修固御河堤防，方議開置河口，況御河堤道，僅如蔡河之類，若欲吞納河水，須如汴岸增修，猶恐不能制蓄。乞別委清強官相視利害，並議可否。

Last winter an outer vice director also proposed opening a sluice on the Yellow River's new dike at the Northern Capital for shipping—a plan especially reckless. That is precisely where in autumn of the fourth year of Xining the Yellow River poured into the Imperial Canal; the court then dispatched high ministers to supervise repairs at incalculable cost. The people of Daming, En, and Ji have not yet recovered—how can we now reopen a breach to admit river water? Although the Directorate of Waterways ordered its subordinates to inspect the site, the officials feared offending those who had proposed the plan and merely delayed, reporting back that the Imperial Canal embankments should first be strengthened before discussing the opening of a river mouth. Moreover, the Imperial Canal dikes were only like the Cai River works; if they were to take in Yellow River water, they would have to be heightened like the Bian River banks, and even then they might not control and store it. I beg that another capable, upright official be appointed to weigh the advantages and harms and decide whether the project should proceed.

又言：「今之水官，尤為不職，容易建言，僥倖恩賞。朝廷便為主張，中外莫敢異議，事若不效，都無譴罰。臣謂更當選擇其人，不宜令狂妄輩橫費生民膏血。」

He added, "Today's water officials are especially unfit: they propose schemes lightly, hoping for favor and reward. The court backs them at once; none inside or outside dares object; when projects fail, no one is punished. I hold that better men must be chosen and reckless officials must not be allowed to squander the people's substance."

已而都水監言，運河乞置雙閘，例放舟船實便，與彥博所言不同。十二月，命知制誥熊本與都水監、河北轉運司官相視。本奏：

Soon the Directorate of Waterways reported that double sluices on the transport canal, releasing boats according to rule, were genuinely convenient—contrary to Wen Yanbo's account. In the twelfth month the court appointed drafting academician Xiong Ben, together with officials of the Directorate of Waterways and the Hebei transport office, to inspect. Xiong Ben reported:

河北州軍賞給茶貨，以至應接沿邊榷場要用之物，並自黃河運至黎陽出卸，轉入御河，費用止於客軍數百人添支而已。向者，朝廷曾賜米河北，亦于黎陽或馬陵道口下卸，倒裝轉致，費亦不多。昨因程昉等擘畫，于衛州西南，循沙河故跡決口置閘，鑿堤引河，以通江、淮舟楫，而實邊郡倉稟。自興役至畢，凡用錢米、功料二百萬有奇。今後每歲用物料一百一十六萬，廂軍一千七百餘人，約費錢五萬七千餘緡。開河行水，才百餘日，所過船郐伐六百二十五，而衛州界御河淤淺，已及三萬八千余步；沙河左右民田，渰浸者幾千頃，所免租稅二千貫石有餘。有費無利，誠如議者所論。

Tea and goods issued to Hebei prefectures and armies, and all supplies for frontier markets, were shipped down the Yellow River to Liyang for unloading, then transferred to the Imperial Canal—costing only supplemental pay for a few hundred guest troops. When the court formerly sent grain to Hebei, it was likewise unloaded at Liyang or Maling Ford and reloaded at modest cost. Last year Cheng Fang and others devised a project southwest of Weizhou: following the old Sha River bed they breached the dike, set a sluice, cut the embankment, and drew the river in to link Jiang-Huai shipping while supposedly supplying border granaries. From the start of labor to completion, money, grain, and materials exceeded two million. Henceforth each year would require 1,160,000 units of materials and more than 1,700 garrison troops, about 57,000 strings of cash. Water ran for barely more than a hundred days; six hundred twenty-five boats and barges passed, yet below Weizhou the Imperial Canal had already silted for more than thirty-eight thousand paces; fields on both banks of the Sha were flooded for nearly a thousand qing, with more than two thousand guan and shi of rent and tax remitted. Expense without gain—exactly as critics had warned.

然尚有大者，衛州居御河上游，而西南當王供向著之會，所以捍黃河之患者，一堤而已。今穴堤引河，而置閘之地，才及堤身之半。詢之土人雲，自慶曆八年後，大水七至，方其盛時，游波有平堤者。今河流安順三年矣，設復礬水暴漲，則河身乃在閘口之上。以湍悍之勢而無堤防之阻，氾濫沖溢，下合御河，臣恐墊溺之禍，不特在乎衛州，而瀕御河郡縣，皆罹其患矣。

Yet a greater danger remains: Weizhou stands at the upper Imperial Canal, and to the southwest faces the convergence toward Wanggong. A single dike alone holds back the Yellow River. Now the dike is pierced to admit the river, and the sluice is set where the breach reaches only halfway through the embankment. Local people said that since the eighth year of Qingli great floods had struck seven times; at their height the surging waves had risen level with the dike. The river has run smoothly for three years now, but if floodwaters surge again the river bed would stand above the sluice. With such a violent current and no dike to restrain it, floodwater would pour into the Imperial Canal below. I fear inundation would not stop at Weizhou but strike every county along the canal.

夫此河之興，一歲所濟船郐伐，其數止此，而萌每歲不測之患，積無窮不貲之費，豈陛下所以垂世裕民之意哉！臣博采眾論，究極利病，鹹以謂葺故堤，堰新口，存新閘而勿治，庶可以銷淤澱決溢之患，而省無窮之費。萬一他日欲由此河轉粟塞下，則暫開亟止，或可紓飛輓之勞。

This canal aided only so many boats and barges in a single year, yet it breeds unpredictable disaster every year and endless expense. Is that what Your Majesty intends for the people's lasting welfare? I have gathered every view and weighed the costs to the end. All agree: repair the old dike, seal the new breach, leave the new sluice but cease maintaining it—thus ending silting and overflow while sparing endless expense. If someday grain must pass this way to the border, open it briefly and close again at once—perhaps that alone could ease emergency transport.

未幾，河果決衛州。

Before long the river did breach at Weizhou.

元豐五年，提舉河北黃河堤防司言：「御河狹隘，堤防不固，不足容大河分水，乞令綱運轉入大河，而閉截徐曲。」既從之矣。明年，戶部侍郎蹇周輔復請開撥，以通漕運，及令商旅舟船至邊。是時，每有一議，朝廷輒下水官相度，或作或輟，迄莫能定。大抵自小吳埽決，大河北流，御河數為漲水所冒，亦或湮沒。哲宗紹聖三年四月，河北都轉運使吳安持始奏，大河東流，御河復出。詔委前都水丞李仲提舉開導。

In the fifth year of Yuanfeng the Hebei Yellow River embankment office reported, "The Imperial Canal is too narrow and its dikes too weak to take diverted Great River water. Convoy transport should return to the Great River and the Xugu bend be sealed." The court approved. The following year Vice Minister of Revenue Jian Zhoufu again petitioned to open and dredge the canal for grain transport and to let merchant vessels reach the frontier. Whenever a plan arose, the court sent water officials to survey; projects started and stopped, and nothing was ever settled. Since the breach at Little Wu Embankment the Great River had flowed north, and the Imperial Canal was repeatedly flooded and sometimes choked with silt. In the fourth month of the third year of Shaosheng, Hebei chief transport commissioner Wu Anchi reported that the Great River had turned east and the Imperial Canal flowed again. The court appointed former vice director Li Zhong to supervise reopening the channel.

徽宗崇甯元年冬，詔侯臨同北外都水丞司開臨清縣壩子口，增修御河西堤，高三尺，並計度西堤開置斗門，決北京、恩、冀、滄州、永靜軍積水入御河枯源。明年秋，黃河漲入御河，行流浸大名府館陶縣，敗廬舍，復用夫七千，役二十一萬余工修西堤，三月始畢，漲水復壞之。

In the first winter of Chongning, the court ordered Hou Lin and the northern outer Directorate to open Bazikou in Linqing, raise the west dike of the Imperial Canal three chi, and plan sluice gates to drain floodwater from Beijing, En, Ji, Cang, and Yongjing Circuit into the canal bed. The next autumn the Yellow River poured into the Imperial Canal, flooding Guantao in Daming and destroying houses. Seventy thousand laborers performed two hundred ten thousand work units on the west dike; when repairs finished in the third month, the flood destroyed them again.

政和五年閏正月，詔於恩州北增修御河東堤，為治水堤防，令京西路差借來年分溝河夫千人赴役。於是都水使者孟揆移撥十八埽官兵，分地步修築，又取棗強上埽水口以下舊堤所管榆柳為樁木。

In the intercalary first month of the fifth year of Zhenghe, the court ordered the east dike north of Enzhou raised for flood control and a thousand canal laborers from Jingxi Circuit levied for the following year. Director of Waterways Meng Yao then deployed troops from eighteen embankment posts to build by section and took elm and willow from old dikes below Shangqiang sluice for piling.

塘濼，緣邊諸水所聚，因以限遼。河北屯田司、緣邊安撫司皆掌之，而以河北轉運使兼都大制置。凡水之淺深，屯田司季申工部。其水東起滄州界，拒海岸黑龍港，西至乾寧軍，沿永濟河合破船澱、灰澱、方澱為一水，衡廣一百一十里，縱九十里至一百三十里，其深五尺。東起乾寧軍、西信安軍永濟渠為一水，西合鵝巢澱、陳人澱、燕丹澱、大光澱、孟宗澱為一水，衡廣一百二十里，縱三十里，或五十里，其深丈餘或六尺。東起信安軍永濟渠，西至霸州莫金口，合水汶澱、得勝澱、下光澱、小蘭澱、李子澱、大蘭澱為一水，衡廣七十里，或十五里或六里，其深六尺或七尺。東北起霸州莫金口，西南保定軍父母砦，合糧料澱、回澱為一水，衡廣二十七里，縱八里，其深六尺。霸州至保定軍並塘岸水最淺，故咸平、景德中，契丹南牧，以霸州、信安軍為歸路。東南起保安軍，西北雄州，合百水澱、黑羊澱、小蓮花澱為一水，衡廣六十里，縱二十五里或十里，其深八尺或九尺。東起雄州，西至順安軍，合大蓮花澱、洛陽澱、牛橫澱、康池澱、疇澱、白羊澱為一水，衡廣七十里，縱三十里或四十五里，其深一丈或六尺或七尺。東起順安軍，西邊吳澱至保州，合齊女澱、勞澱為一水，衡廣三十餘里，縱百五十里，其深一丈三尺或一丈。起安肅、廣信軍之南，保州西北，畜沈苑河為塘，衡廣二十里，縱十里，其深五尺，淺或三尺，曰沈苑泊。自保州西合雞距泉、尚泉為稻田、方田，衡廣十里，其深五尺至三尺，曰西塘泊。自何承矩以黃懋為判官，始開置屯田，築堤儲水為阻固，其後益增廣之。凡並邊諸河，若滹沱、胡盧、永濟等河，皆匯於塘。

The border ponds and marshes collect the frontier waters and thereby hem in the Liao. The Hebei agricultural colony office and frontier pacification office both administer them, while the Hebei transport commissioner serves as overall commissioner. Water depths are reported quarterly by the agricultural colony office to the Ministry of Works. One body of water runs east from the Cangzhou border to Black Dragon Port on the coast and west to Qianning along the Yongji Canal, joining Broken Boat, Ash, and Fang marshes—one hundred ten li across, ninety to one hundred thirty li long, five chi deep. Another begins at Qianning and Xixin'an on the Yongji Canal and west joins Goose Nest, Chenren, Yandan, Great Light, and Meng Zong marshes—one hundred twenty li across, thirty or fifty li long, over a zhang or six chi deep. Another runs from Xixin'an west to Mojin Ford in Bazhou, joining Shuiwen, Desheng, Lower Light, Little Orchid, Plum, and Great Orchid marshes—seventy, fifteen, or six li across, six or seven chi deep. Another runs northeast from Mojin Ford to Fumuzhai in Baoding Army, joining Grain and Hui marshes—twenty-seven li across, eight li long, six chi deep. Pond-bank waters from Bazhou to Baoding are shallowest; in the Xianping and Jingde eras Khitan southern raids used Bazhou and Xixin'an as their withdrawal route. Another runs southeast from Bao'an Army northwest to Xiongzhou, joining Hundred Waters, Black Sheep, and Little Lotus marshes—sixty li across, twenty-five or ten li long, eight or nine chi deep. Another runs east from Xiongzhou west to Shun'an Army, joining Great Lotus, Luoyang, Ox Cross, Kang Pool, Chou, and White Sheep marshes—seventy li across, thirty or forty-five li long, one zhang or six or seven chi deep. Another runs east from Shun'an west through Bianwu Marsh to Baozhou, joining Qinu and Lao marshes—over thirty li across, one hundred fifty li long, one zhang three chi or one zhang deep. South of Ansu and Guangxin and northwest of Baozhou, the Shenyuan River is impounded—twenty li across, ten li long, five chi deep, shallow places three chi—called Shenyuan Marsh. West of Baozhou, Jiju and Shang springs form paddy and square fields—ten li across, five to three chi deep—called West Pond Marsh. When He Chengjiao appointed Huang Mao as judge and first opened colony fields, building dikes to impound water as a barrier, the system was steadily enlarged thereafter. All frontier rivers—the Hutuo, Hulu, Yongji, and others—flow into the ponds.

天聖以後，相循而不廢，仍領于沿邊屯田司。而當職之吏，各從其所見，或曰：「有兵將在，契丹來，雲無所事塘。自邊吳澱西望長城口，尚百餘里，皆山阜高仰，水不能至，契丹騎馳突，得此路足矣，塘雖距海，亦無所用。夫以無用之塘，而廢可耕之田，則邊穀貴，自困之道也。不如勿廣，以息民為根本。」或者則曰：「河朔幅員二千里，地平夷無險阻。契丹從西方入，放兵大掠，由東方而歸，我嬰城之不暇，其何以禦之？自邊吳澱至泥姑海口，綿亙七州軍，屈曲九百里，深不可以舟行，淺不可以徒涉，雖有勁兵，不能度也。東有所阻，則甲兵之備，可以專力於其西矣。孰謂無益？」論者自是分為兩歧，而廷朝以契丹出沒無常，阻固終不可以廢也。

After the Tiansheng era the system continued, still overseen by the frontier agricultural colony office. Duty officers, each following his own view, said, "With troops on the frontier the Khitan claim the clouds have nothing to do with the ponds. From Bianwu Marsh west toward the Great Wall pass lies more than a hundred li of high ground where water cannot reach; Khitan cavalry need only that route, and ponds reaching the sea are useless. To waste arable land on useless ponds makes frontier grain dear and weakens us. Better not expand them and make easing the people the foundation." Others said, "Hebei spans two thousand li of level plain without natural barriers. The Khitan enter from the west, plunder freely, and withdraw eastward—we can barely hold our cities; how can we defend? From Bianwu Marsh to Nigu Sea mouth, seven prefectures and circuits over nine hundred li of winding water—too deep for boats, too shallow for infantry; even elite troops cannot cross. Blocked on the east, armor and weapons can be concentrated on the west. Who says it is useless?" Debate split into two camps, but the court held that because Khitan movements were unpredictable the defensive ponds could never be abandoned.

仁宗明道二年，劉平自雄州徙知成德軍，奏曰：「臣向為沿邊安撫使，與安撫都監劉志嘗陳備邊之略。臣今徙真定路，由順安、安肅、保定州界，自邊吳澱望趙曠川、長城口，乃契丹出入要害之地，東西不及一百五十里。臣竊恨聖朝七十餘年，守邊之臣，何可勝數，皆不能為朝廷預設深溝高壘，以為扼塞。臣聞太宗朝，嘗有建請置方田者。今契丹國多事，兵荒相繼，我乘此以引水植稻為名，開方田，隨田塍四面穿溝渠，縱廣一丈，深二丈，鱗次交錯，兩溝間屈曲為徑路，才令通步兵。引曹河、鮑河、徐河、雞距泉分注溝中，地高則用水車汲引，灌溉甚便。願以劉志知廣信軍，與楊懷敏共主其事，數年之後，必有成績。」帝遂密敕平與懷敏建方田。侍禁劉宗言又奏請種木於西山之麓，以法榆塞，雲可以限契丹也。後劉平去真定，懷敏猶領屯田司。塘泊益廣，至吞沒民田，蕩溺丘墓，百姓始告病，乃有盜決以免水患者，懷敏奏立法依盜決堤防律。

In the second year of Mingdao under Emperor Renzong, Liu Ping was transferred from Xiongzhou to govern Chengde Army and memorialized: "When I formerly served as frontier pacification commissioner, Pacification Inspector Liu Zhi and I once presented a frontier-defense plan. Now that I have been transferred to Zhending Circuit, I have viewed, from Shun'an, Ansu, and the Baoding prefectural border, the area from Bianwu Marsh toward Zhao's broad plain and Great Wall Pass. This is a vital route by which the Khitan enter and leave, and it is less than one hundred fifty li east to west. I privately regret that in the more than seventy years of the sacred dynasty, the officials guarding the frontier, countless though they were, have all failed to prepare deep moats and high ramparts for the court as choke-points. I have heard that in Taizong's reign there was once a proposal to establish square fields. Now the Khitan state has many troubles and war and famine follow one another. If we take advantage of this and use water diversion and rice planting as the pretext, we can open square fields, cut canals on all four sides along the field ridges, each one zhang wide and two zhang deep, arranged in interlocking rows, with winding paths between two canals barely wide enough for infantry to pass. The Cao, Bao, and Xu rivers and Jiju Spring can be led separately into the canals; where the ground is high, waterwheels can lift the water, making irrigation very convenient. I ask that Liu Zhi be made administrator of Guangxin Army and jointly oversee the matter with Yang Huaimin; after several years there will surely be results." The emperor then secretly ordered Ping and Huaimin to establish square fields. Liu Zongyan, an Attendant Guard, also memorialized requesting that trees be planted at the foot of the Western Mountains, in imitation of the elm barricades, saying this could limit the Khitan. Later Liu Ping left Zhending, but Huaimin still headed the Garrison-Farm Office. The ponds and marshes kept expanding until they swallowed the people's fields and flooded graves. Only then did the people begin to complain of harm, and some secretly breached them to escape the water damage; Huaimin memorialized requesting that a statute be established to punish them under the law for secretly breaching dikes.

景祐二年，懷敏知雄州，又請立木為水則，以限盈縮。寶元元年十一月己未，河北屯田司言：「欲于石塚口導永濟河水，以注緣邊塘泊，請免所經民田稅。」從之。時歲旱，塘水涸，懷敏慮契丹使至，測知其廣深，乃壅界河水注之，塘復如故。

In the second year of Jingyou, as prefect of Xiongzhou, Huaimin also requested wooden water gauges to mark levels. On jiwei of the eleventh month of the first year of Baoyuan, the Hebei agricultural colony office reported, "We wish to lead Yongji River water at Shizhangkou into the border ponds; please remit tax on fields traversed." The court approved. Drought had dried the ponds. Huaimin feared Khitan envoys would measure them, dammed border river water to refill them, and the ponds recovered.

慶曆二年三月己巳，契丹遣使致書，求關南十縣。且曰：「營築長堤，填塞隘路，開決塘水，添置邊軍，既潛稔於猜嫌，慮難敦於信睦。」四月庚辰，復書曰：「營築堤埭，開決陂塘，昨緣霖潦之餘，大為衍溢之患，既非疏導，當稍繕防，豈蘊猜嫌，以虧信睦。」遼使劉六符嘗謂賈昌朝曰：「南朝塘濼何為者哉？一葦可杭，投箠可平。不然，決其堤，十萬土囊，遂可逾矣。」時議者亦請涸其地以養兵。帝問王拱辰，對曰：「兵事尚詭，彼誠有謀，不應以語敵，此六符誇言爾。設險守國，先王不廢，且祖宗所以限遼騎也。」帝深然之。

On jisi of the third month of the second year of Qingli, Khitan envoys demanded the ten counties south of the pass. They also wrote, "Building long dikes, blocking narrow roads, opening pond water, and adding frontier troops show hidden suspicion; we fear amity cannot endure." On gengchen of the fourth month the reply said, "Embankments and ponds followed heavy rains and great floods; lacking proper drainage, repairs were needed—how is that suspicion to harm trust?" Liao envoy Liu Liufu once asked Jia Changchao, "What are the Song ponds for? A single reed can bridge them; throw a rod and they are level. Otherwise breach the dikes with one hundred thousand earth bags and cross at once." Advocates then also asked to drain the ponds to support troops. The emperor asked Wang Gongchen, who replied, "Warfare relies on deception; if they truly have a plan, one must not tell the enemy—this is Liu Liufu's bluster. Establishing defenses is what the ancient kings never abandoned and what our ancestors used to limit Liao cavalry." The emperor strongly agreed.

七月，契丹復議和好，約兩界河澱已前開畎者並依舊外，自今已後，各不添展。其見堤堰水口，逐時決泄壅塞，量差兵夫，取便修疊疏導。非時霖潦，別至大段漲溢，並不在關報之限。是歲，劉宗言知順安軍，上言：「屯田司浚塘水，漂招賢鄉六千戶。」

In the seventh month the Khitan renewed peace talks, agreeing that ditches opened before the border marshes would remain as before and neither side would expand them thereafter. Existing dikes and sluices would be cleared and dredged in season with labor assigned as needed. Extraordinary rains causing major floods lay outside routine reporting requirements. That year Liu Zongyan, prefect of Shun'an, reported, "The agricultural colony office dredged ponds and flooded six thousand households of Zhaoxian Township."

五年七月，初與契丹約，罷廣兩界塘澱。約既定，朝廷重生事，自是每邊臣言利害，雖聽許，必戒之以毋張惶，使契丹有詞。而楊懷敏獨治塘益急，是月，懷敏密奏曰：「前轉運使沈邈開七汲口泄塘水，臣已亟塞之。知順安軍劉宗言閉五門襆頭港、下赤大渦柳林口漳河水，不使入塘，臣已復通之，令注白羊澱矣。邈、宗言朋黨沮事如此，不譴誅無以懲後。」詔從懷敏奏，自今有妄乞改水口者，重責之。

In the seventh month of the fifth year the initial Khitan agreement abolished the broad border ponds on both sides. Once settled, the court feared provocation; frontier proposals, though approved, were always warned not to give the Khitan a pretext. Yet Yang Huaimin alone pressed pond work harder. That month he secretly reported, "Former transport commissioner Shen Miao opened seven Jiqu sluices to drain the ponds—I have sealed them. Prefect Liu Zongyan closed Wumen Futou Harbor and sluices on the Zhang River to keep water out—I have reopened them to fill White Sheep Marsh. Miao and Zongyan are confederates obstructing the work; without punishment there is no warning for the future." The court followed Huaimin's memorial; henceforth rash alteration of sluices would be heavily punished.

嘉祐中，御史中丞韓絳言：「宣祖已上，本籍保州，懷敏廣塘水，侵皇朝遠祖墳。近聞詔旨以錢二百千賜本宗使易葬，此虧薄國體尤甚，物論駭歎，願請州縣屏水患而已。」知雄州趙滋言：「屯田司當徐河間築堤斷水，塘堤具存，可覆視也。宜開水竇六十尺，修石限以節之。」鹹可其奏。八年，河北提點刑獄張問言：「視八州軍塘，出土為堤，以畜西山之水，涉夏河溢，而民田無患。」亦施行焉。

In the Jiayou era Vice Censor-in-Chief Han Jiang said, "From Emperor Xuanzu upward our registry lay in Baozhou; Huaimin expanded ponds and flooded the imperial clan's remote ancestral graves. I hear two hundred thousand cash was granted to relocate the graves—this wounds state dignity and shocks opinion; I beg only that counties ward off flood harm." Zhao Zi, prefect of Xiongzhou, said, "The agricultural colony office built a dike across the Xu River; the pond dikes still exist and can be reinspected. Open water passages sixty chi wide with stone limits to regulate flow." All approved his memorial. In the eighth year Hebei intendant Zhang Wen said, "Surveying ponds in eight prefectures and circuits, earth is raised as dikes to store western mountain water; through summer floods civilian fields are unharmed." This too was implemented.

神宗熙甯元年正月，復汾州西河濼。濼舊在城東，圍四十里，歲旱以溉民田，雨以瀦水，又有蒲魚、茭芡之利，可給貧民。前轉運使王沿廢為田，人不以為便。至是，知雜御史劉述請復之。是歲，又遣程昉諭邊臣營治諸濼，以備守禦。

In the first month of the first year of Xining, the West River Marsh in Fenzhou was restored. The marsh formerly lay east of the city, forty li around; in drought it irrigated fields, in rain it stored water, and reeds, fish, and water chestnuts supplied the poor. Former transport commissioner Wang Yan had reclaimed it as farmland, to the people's inconvenience. Investigating censor Liu Shu then requested restoration. That year Cheng Fang was also sent to instruct frontier officials to manage the marshes for defense.

五年，東頭供奉官趙忠政言：「界河以南至滄州凡三百里，夏秋可徒涉，遇冬則冰合，無異平地。請自滄州東接海，西抵西山，植榆柳、桑棗，數年之間，可限契丹。然後施力耕種，益出租賦，以助邊儲。」詔程昉察視利害以聞。

In the fifth year attendant Zhao Zhongzheng said, "South of the border river to Cangzhou is three hundred li; in summer and autumn it can be waded, and in winter ice makes it level ground. Plant elm, willow, mulberry, and jujube from Cangzhou east to the sea and west to the mountains; within years the Khitan can be hemmed in. Then farm intensively and increase rent and tax to aid frontier stores." The court ordered Cheng Fang to survey advantage and harm and report.

六年五月，帝與王安石論王公設險守國，安石曰：「《周官》亦有掌固之官，但多侵民田，恃以為國，亦非計也。太祖時未有塘泊，然契丹莫敢侵軼。」他日，樞密院官言：「程昉放滹沱水，大懼填淤塘濼，失險固之利。」安石謂：「滹沱舊入邊吳澱，新入洪城澱，均塘濼也。何昔不言而今言乎？」蓋安石方主昉等，故其論如此。

In the fifth month of the sixth year the emperor discussed defenses with Wang Anshi. Anshi said, "The Rites of Zhou also has fortification officers, but invading civilian fields and relying on ponds as the state is no plan either. In Taizu's time there were no ponds, yet the Khitan did not dare raid." Another day military officials said, "Cheng Fang released Hutuo water and greatly risks silting the ponds and losing defensive advantage." Anshi replied, "The Hutuo formerly entered Bianwu Marsh; now it enters Hongcheng Marsh—both are ponds. Why was nothing said before but something said now?" Anshi was then backing Cheng Fang and his allies, which explains why he argued as he did.

六年十二月癸酉，命河北同提點制置屯田使閻士良專興修樸樁口，增灌東塘澱濼。先是，滄州北三堂等塘濼，為黃河所注，其後河改而濼塞。程昉嘗請開琵琶灣引河水，而功不成。至是，士良請堰水絕御河，引西塘水灌之，故有是命。

In the twelfth month of the sixth year, on the day guiyou, the court ordered Yan Shiliang, Hebei co-superintendent for garrison-farm establishment, to repair Puzhuang Kou and expand irrigation of the eastern ponds and marshes. Earlier, pond-marshes such as Santang north of Cangzhou had been fed by the Yellow River; when the river shifted course, the marshes silted shut. Cheng Fang had once asked to open Pipa Bay and channel river water in, but the project failed. Shiliang then proposed damming the flow, blocking the Imperial Canal, and leading water from the western ponds to irrigate them—hence the order.

七年六月丁丑，河北沿邊安撫司上《制置沿邊浚陂塘築堤道條式圖》，請付邊郡屯田司。又言於沿邊軍城植柳蒔麻，以備邊用。並從之。

In the sixth month of the seventh year, on the day dingchou, the Hebei frontier pacification office submitted its regulations and charts for dredging ponds, building dikes, and opening roads along the border, asking that they be sent to frontier garrison-farm offices. It also urged planting willows and hemp around frontier garrison towns for border needs. Both proposals were approved.

九年六月，高陽關言：「信安、乾寧塘濼，昨因不收獨流決口，至今乾涸。」於是命河北東、西路分遣監司，視廣狹淺深，具圖本上。十年正月甲子，詔：「比修築河北破缺塘堤，收匱水勢。其信安軍等處因塘水減涸，退出田土，己召入耕佃者復取之。」

In the sixth month of the ninth year, Gaoyang Pass reported: "The pond-marshes of Xin'an and Qianning, because the Dulu breach was not closed, have been dry to this day." The court then ordered the eastern and western Hebei circuits each to send supervisory officials to survey breadth, depth, and shallows, and submit maps and reports. In the first month of the tenth year, on the day jiazi, an edict declared, "In repairing broken pond dikes in Hebei, hold back the stored water. Where pond water has fallen and fields at Xin'an Commandery and elsewhere were opened for lease, those already brought under cultivation shall be reclaimed."

元豐三年，詔諭邊臣曰：「比者契丹出沒不常，不可全恃信約以為萬世之安。況河朔地勢坦平，略無險阻，殆非前世之比。惟是塘水實為礙塞，卿等當體朕意，協力增修，自非地勢高仰，人力所不可施者，皆在滋廣，用謹邊防。蓋功利近在目前而不為，良可惜也。」六年十二月，定州路安撫使韓絳言：「定州界西自山麓，東接塘澱，綿地百餘里，可瀦水設險。」詔以引水灌田陂為名。哲宗元祐中，大臣欲回河東流者，皆以北流壞塘濼為言，事見前篇。

In the third year of Yuanfeng, the throne told frontier officials, "The Khitan raid without pattern; we cannot stake eternal safety on treaties alone. The north of the river is open country, almost without natural defenses—nothing like earlier times. Only the pond waters truly block the enemy. Grasp Our intent and work together to enlarge them. Save only where the ground rises too high for human labor—everywhere else, expand them to strengthen the border. For benefit and profit lie close at hand yet go unrealized—a real pity." In the twelfth month of the sixth year, Han Jiang, pacification commissioner of Dingzhou Circuit, said: "Dingzhou's border runs from the mountain foothills in the west to the pond deposits in the east—a stretch of more than a hundred li where water can be impounded to create defenses." The court authorized the work under the name of channeling water to irrigate fields and ponds. During Emperor Zhezong's Yuanyou reign, ministers urging the river back to an eastward course all argued that northward flow ruined the ponds and marshes; that affair is recounted above.

徽宗大觀二年十二月，詔曰：「瀦水為塘，以備氾濫，留屯營田，以實塞下，國家設官置吏，專總其事。州縣習玩，歲久隳壞。其令屯田司循祖宗以來塘堤故跡修治之，毋得增益生事。」大抵河北塘濼，東距海，西抵廣信、安肅，深不可涉，淺不可舟，故指為險固之地。其後淤澱乾涸，不復開浚，官司利於稻田，往往泄去積水，自是堤防壞矣。

In the twelfth month of the second year of Daguan, Emperor Huizong decreed, "Store water in ponds against flood; keep garrisons and military colonies to fill the frontier. The state appoints officials solely to manage this. Prefectures and counties grew careless, and over time the works decayed. Order the garrison-farm office to repair according to the old traces of pond dikes since the ancestral founders, and not create new troubles by extending the works." Broadly speaking, Hebei's ponds and marshes stretched from the sea east to Guangxin and Ansu west—too deep to ford, too shallow to sail—and were therefore held to be natural fortifications. Later they silted and dried; no one dredged them again. Officials preferred rice paddies and often drained the stored water, and from that point the dikes failed.

河北諸水，有通轉餉者，有為方田限遼人者。太宗太平興國六年正月，遣八作使郝守浚分行河道，抵於遼境者，皆疏導之。又于清苑界開徐河、雞距河五十里入白河。自是關南之漕，悉通濟焉。端拱二年，以左諫議大夫陳恕為河北東路招置營田使，魏羽為副使；右諫議大夫樊知古為河北西路招置營田使，索湘為副使，欲大興營田也。

Hebei's waters served two purposes: some carried grain transport, others formed checkerboard fields to block the Liao. In the first month of the sixth year of Taiping Xingguo, Emperor Taizong sent Palace Works Commissioner Hao Shoujun to survey river courses separately and dredge every channel that reached the Liao border. At the Qingyuan boundary he also opened the Xu and Jiju rivers for fifty li into the Bai River. Thereafter grain transport south of the mountain passes ran unimpeded. In the second year of Duangong, Left Remonstrance Grandee Chen Shu was appointed recruiting commissioner for military colonies on the Hebei Eastern Circuit, with Wei Yu as vice commissioner; and Right Remonstrance Grandee Fan Zhigu recruiting commissioner on the Hebei Western Circuit, with Suo Xiang as vice commissioner—aiming to greatly expand military colonies.

先是，自雄州東際於海，多積水，契丹患之，未嘗敢由此路入，每歲，數擾順安軍。議者以為宜度地形高下，因水陸之便，建阡陌，浚溝洫，益樹五稼，所以實邊廩而限契丹。雍熙後，數用兵，岐溝、君子館敗衄之後，河朔之民，農桑失業，多閒田，且戍兵增倍，故遣恕等經營之。恕密奏：「戍卒皆墮遊，仰食縣官，一旦使冬被甲兵，春執耒耜，恐變生不測。」乃詔止令葺營堡，營田之議遂寢。

Earlier, from Xiongzhou east to the sea lay broad standing water. The Khitan feared that route and never dared take it, but each year they raided Shun'an Commandery again and again. Advisors argued that the land should be surveyed for height, fields and canals laid out along water and road, the five grains planted in greater abundance—to fill frontier granaries and hem in the Khitan. After Yongxi and repeated wars, and after the routs at Qigou and Junzi Guan, farming and sericulture collapsed across the north, leaving much idle land while garrison troops doubled—so Shu and his colleagues were sent to organize the frontier. Shu secretly memorialized: "Garrison soldiers are all idle and dissolute, relying on state provision; should they one day wear armor in winter and take up hoes in spring, I fear unforeseen trouble may arise." An edict then limited work to repairing camps and forts, and the plan for military colonies was dropped.

淳化二年，從河北轉運使請，自深州新砦鎮開新河，導胡盧河，分為一派，凡二百里抵常山，以通漕運。胡盧河源於西山，始自冀州新河鎮入深州武強縣，與滹沱河合流，其後變徙，入大河。至神宗熙寧中，內侍程昉請開決引水入新河故道，詔本路遣官按視。永靜軍判官林伸、東光縣令張言舉言：「新河地形高仰，恐害民田」昉言：「地勢最順，宜無不便。」乃復遣劉璯、李直躬考實，而曁會等卒如昉言，伸等坐貶官。

In the second year of Chunhua, at the Hebei transport commissioner's request, a new river was cut from Xinzai Town in Shenzhou, diverting the Hulu River in a branch two hundred li to Changshan to open grain transport. The Hulu rises in the western hills, entered Shenzhou's Wuqiang County from Jizhou's Xinhe Town, joined the Hutuo, then shifted and flowed into the Great River. In Emperor Shenzong's Xining era, inner attendant Cheng Fang asked to cut open the bank and send water back into the new river's old channel; the court ordered officials of that circuit to inspect the site. Yongjing Commandery adjutant Lin Shen and Dongguang magistrate Zhang Yanju said: "The new river's terrain runs high—I fear harm to civilian fields." Fang said: "The terrain is most favorable; there should be no inconvenience." Liu Yun and Li Zhigong were sent again to verify the facts; Ji Hui and the others ultimately sided with Fang, and Shen and his colleagues were demoted.

四年春，詔六宅使何承矩等督戍兵萬八千人，自霸州界引滹沱水灌稻為屯田，用實軍廩，且為備禦焉。初，臨津令黃懋上封事，盛稱水田之利，乃以承矩洎內供奉官閻承翰、殿直張從古同制置河北緣邊屯田事，仍以懋為大理寺丞，充屯田判官，其所經畫，悉如懋奏。

In the spring of the fourth year, the court ordered Palace Six Quarters Commissioner He Chengju and others to lead eighteen thousand garrison troops in drawing Hutuo water from the Bazhou border to flood rice fields as garrison farms, filling army stores and strengthening defense. At first Linjin magistrate Huang Mao submitted a sealed memorial praising paddy fields at length. He Chengju, inner attendant Yan Chenghan, and director Zhang Conggu were appointed jointly to manage Hebei frontier garrison farms; Mao was promoted to Review Court vice-director and made garrison-farm adjutant, and their plan followed his memorial in full.

真宗咸平四年，知靜戎軍王能請自薑女廟東決鮑河水，北入閻台澱，又自靜戎之東，引北注三台、小李村，其水溢入長城口而南，又壅使北流而東入於雄州。五年，順安軍兵馬都監馬濟復請自靜戎軍東，擁鮑河開渠入順安軍，又自順安軍之西引入威虜軍，置水陸營田于渠側。濟等言：「役成，可以達糧漕，隔遼騎。」帝許之，獨鹽台澱稍高，恐決引非便，不從其議。因詔莫州部署石普並護其役。逾年功畢。帝曰：「普引軍壁馬村以西，開鑿深廣，足以張大軍勢。若邊城壕溝悉如此，則遼人倉卒難馳突而易追襲矣。」其年，河北轉運使耿望開鎮州常山鎮南河水入洨河至趙州，有詔褒之。三月，西京左藏庫使舒知白請于泥姑海口、章口復置海作務造舟，令民入海捕魚，因偵平州機事。異日王師征討，亦可由此進兵，以分敵勢。先是，置船務，以近海之民與遼人往還，遼人嘗泛舟直入千乘縣，亦疑有鄉導之者，故廢務。至是，令轉運使條上利害。既而以為非便，罷之。

In the fourth year of Xianping, Jingrong Commandery prefect Wang Neng proposed breaching the Bao River east of the Jiangnü Temple north into Yantai Marsh, then from east of Jingrong leading it north to Santai and Xiaolicun so that it would spill south through Changcheng Pass, be dammed northward, and run east into Xiongzhou. In the fifth year, Shun'an Commandery cavalry inspector Ma Ji again asked to embank the Bao east of Jingrong, cut a canal into Shun'an, and from west of Shun'an lead it into Weilu Commandery, with land-and-water military colonies along the channel. Ji and the others said: "When the work is done, grain transport can be reached and Liao cavalry blocked." The emperor approved, but Salt Platform Marsh stood somewhat high; fearing a breach would be unsafe, he rejected that portion of the plan. The court then ordered Mozhou deployment commissioner Shi Pu to oversee the work jointly. Within a year the project was finished. The emperor said, "Pu carried the army west of Bima Village; the cut was deep and wide, enough to magnify our military presence. If every frontier moat were dug like this, the Liao would find sudden raids difficult and pursuit easy." That year Hebei transport commissioner Geng Wang opened the Nanhe at Zhenzhou's Changshan Town into the Xiao River as far as Zhaozhou, and the court commended him. In the third month, Western Capital Left Treasury Commissioner Shu Zhibai asked to restore a sea works office at Nigu and Zhang estuaries to build boats, let people fish at sea, and thereby spy on affairs in Pingzhou. When the imperial army marched in future, it could also advance by this route and divide the enemy's force. Earlier a boat office had let coastal people trade with the Liao; Liao boats once sailed straight into Qiansheng County, and guides were suspected—so the office was abolished. Now the transport commissioner was ordered to set out the pros and cons. The plan was judged impractical and dropped.

景德元年，北面都鈐轄閻承翰自嘉山東引唐河三十二里至定州，釃而為渠，直蒲陰縣東六十二里會沙河，徑邊吳泊，遂入於界河，以達方舟之漕。又引保州趙彬堰徐河水入雞距泉，以息挽舟之役，自是朔方之民，灌溉饒益，大蒙其利矣。八月，詔滄州、乾寧軍謹視斗門水口，壅潮水入御河東塘堰，以廣溉蔭。四年五月，知雄州李允則決渠為水田，帝以渠接界河，罷之。因下詔曰：「頃修國好，聽其盟約，不欲生事，姑務息民。自今邊城止可修葺城壕，其餘河道，不得輒有浚治。」

In the first year of Jingde, Northern Frontier General Yan Chenghan drew the Tang River thirty-two li east from Jiashan to Dingzhou, cleared it into a canal, ran it straight east of Puyin County for sixty-two li to join the Sha River, crossed frontier Bianwu Marsh, and entered the border river for barge transport. He also had Baozhou's Zhao Bin dam Xu River water into Jiju Spring, ending boat-hauling labor; thereafter the northern frontier gained rich irrigation and great benefit. In the eighth month, Cangzhou and Qianning Commandery were ordered to watch sluice gates closely, damming tidal water into the Imperial Canal's eastern pond dikes to widen irrigation. In the fifth month of the fourth year, Xiongzhou prefect Li Yunze cut a canal for paddy fields; because it linked to the border river, the emperor stopped the work. An edict followed: "We have lately kept peace and honored the treaty; we do not wish to stir trouble and for now seek only to rest the people. Henceforth frontier towns may repair moats only; no other waterways may be dredged or altered."

大中祥符七年四月，涇原都鈐轄曹瑋言：「渭北有古池，連帶山麓，今浚為渠，令民導以溉田。」六月，知永興軍陳堯咨導龍首渠入城，民庶便之。並詔嘉獎。天禧末，諸州屯田總四千二百餘頃，而河北屯田歲收二萬九千四百余石，保州最多，逾其半焉。江、淮、兩浙承偽制，皆有屯田，克復後，多賦與民輸租，第存其名。在河北者雖有其實，而歲入無幾，利在畜水以限遼騎而已。

In the fourth month of the seventh year of Dazhong Xiangfu, Jingyuan frontier general Cao Wei said: "North of the Wei there is an ancient pool linked to the mountain foothills; dredge it now into a canal and let the people channel it to irrigate fields." In the sixth month, Yongxing Commandery prefect Chen Yaozi brought the Longshou Canal into the city, greatly to the people's benefit. Both were commended by imperial edict. By the end of Tianxi, garrison farms in all prefectures totaled more than forty-two hundred qing; Hebei alone yielded more than twenty-nine thousand four hundred shi a year, with Baozhou accounting for more than half. Jianghuai and the two Zhe circuits, under the old puppet régimes, all had garrison farms; after reconquest most were leased to the people for rent, the names alone remaining. In Hebei the farms were real but yielded little; their value lay in holding water to block Liao horsemen.

仁宗天聖四年閏五月，陝西轉運使王博文等言：「准敕相度開治解州安邑縣至白家場永豐渠，行舟運鹽，經久不至勞民。按此渠自後魏正始二年，都水校尉元清引平坑水西入黃河以運鹽，故號永豐渠。周、齊之間，渠遂廢絕。隋大業中，都水監姚暹決堰浚渠，自陝郊西入解縣，民賴其利。及唐末至五代亂離，迄今湮沒，水甚淺涸，舟楫不行。」詔三司相度以聞。

In the intercalary fifth month of the fourth year of Tiansheng, Shaanxi transport commissioner Wang Bowen and others reported, "By edict we surveyed reopening the Yongfeng Canal from Xiezhou's Anyi County to Baijia Field for salt transport by boat, so the people would not long be burdened in vain. This canal dates to the second year of Zhengshi in Later Wei, when Director of Waterways Yuan Qing led Pingkeng water west into the Yellow River to carry salt—hence the name Yongfeng Canal. Between Northern Zhou and Northern Qi it fell into disuse. In Sui's Daye era, Waterways Superintendent Yao Xian broke the dikes and dredged the canal from west of Shaan into Jie County, and the people profited. By the turmoil from late Tang through the Five Dynasties it was buried to this day; the water is very shallow and dry; boats cannot pass." The court ordered the Three Departments to survey the project and report.

神宗即位，志在富國，故以劭農為先。熙甯元年六月，詔諸路監司：「比歲所在陂塘堙沒，瀕江圩垾浸壞，沃壤不得耕，宜訪其可興者，勸民興之，具所增田畝稅賦以聞。」二年十月，權三司使吳充言：「前宜城令朱紘，治平間修復木渠，不費公家束薪鬥粟，而民樂趨之。渠成，溉田六千餘頃，數邑蒙其利。」詔遷紘大理寺丞，知比陽縣。或云紘之木渠，繞工度溪以行水，數勤民而終無功。

When Emperor Shenzong ascended, he sought to enrich the realm and made strengthening agriculture his first task. In the sixth month of the first year of Xining, an edict to circuit supervisors said: "In recent years ponds and reservoirs everywhere have silted up, river-bank polders along the Yangzi have been damaged by flooding, and fertile soil cannot be farmed; seek those that can be revived, encourage the people to restore them, and report added fields, mu, and tax revenue." In the tenth month of the second year, acting Three Departments commissioner Wu Chong said, "Former Yicheng magistrate Zhu Hong restored the Mu Canal during the Zhiping era without costing the state firewood or grain, and the people flocked to the work. When the canal was finished it irrigated more than six thousand qing; several counties shared the benefit." Hong was promoted to Review Court vice-director and appointed magistrate of Biyang. Others say Hong's Mu Canal had to skirt Gongdu Creek, repeatedly conscripting labor and ultimately achieving nothing.

十一月，制置三司條例司具《農田利害條約》，詔頒諸路：「凡有能知土地所宜種植之法，及修復陂湖河港，或元無陂塘、圩垾、堤堰、溝洫而可以創修，或水利可及眾而為人所擅有，或田去河港不遠，為地界所隔，可以均濟流通者；縣有廢田曠土，可糾合興修，大川溝瀆淺塞荒穢，合行浚導，及陂塘堰埭可以取水灌溉，若廢壞可興治者，各述所見，編為圖籍，上之有司。其土田迫大川，數經水害，或地勢汙下，雨潦所鐘，要在修築圩垾、堤防之類，以障水澇，或疏導溝洫、畎澮，以泄積水。縣不能辦，州為遣官，事關數州，具奏取旨。民修水利，許貸常平錢谷給用。」初，條例司奏遣劉彝等八人行天下，相梘農田水利，又下諸路轉運司各條上利害，又詔諸路各置相度農田水利官。至是，以《條約》頒焉。

In the eleventh month the Bureau of Regulations finished the Treaty on Farmland Advantage and Harm, and an edict sent it to every circuit: "Whoever knows what each soil should grow, can restore ponds, lakes, and harbors, or can newly build ponds, polders, dikes, and ditches where none existed; wherever water could serve many but is privately held, or fields lie near a river or harbor yet are cut off by boundaries and could be linked; where counties hold waste land that can be reclaimed; where major rivers and channels are choked and foul and should be dredged; and where ponds, dikes, and dams can supply irrigation or ruined works can be rebuilt—each shall report his findings, compile maps and registers, and submit them to the proper office. Where land lies against great rivers and suffers repeated floods, or sits low where rain and flood collect, build polders and dikes to hold the water back, or open ditches and drains to release it. If a county cannot handle the work, the prefecture shall send an officer; if several prefectures are involved, submit a memorial for the throne's decision. People repairing waterworks may borrow Ever-Normal money and grain for the cost." Earlier the Bureau of Regulations had memorialized sending Liu Yi and seven others across the empire to survey farmland and waterworks, ordered each circuit transport office to report advantages and harms, and issued an edict each circuit to appoint farmland-and-waterworks survey officers. Now the Treaty was issued.

秘書丞侯叔獻言：「汴岸沃壤千里，而夾河公私廢田，略計二萬餘頃，多用牧馬。計馬而牧，不過用地之半，則是萬有餘頃常為不耕之地。觀其地勢，利於行水。欲於汴河兩岸置斗門，泄其餘水，分為支渠，及引京、索河並三十六陂，以灌溉田。」詔叔獻提舉開封府界常平，使行之，而以著作佐郎楊汲同提舉。叔獻又引汴水淤田，而祥符、中牟之民大被水患，都水監或以為非。

Secretariat Vice-Director Hou Shuxian said, "A thousand li of rich land lines the Bian River, yet some twenty thousand qing of abandoned public and private fields on both banks are used mostly to pasture horses. Even counting every horse, pasture uses at most half the land—so more than ten thousand qing lie permanently fallow. The ground itself favors irrigation. I wish to set sluice gates on both banks of the Bian River, discharge surplus water, divide it into branch canals, and also lead the Jing and Suo rivers together with thirty-six ponds to irrigate fields." Shuxian was made superintendent of Kaifeng prefecture-bounds Ever-Normal stores to carry this out, with Editorial Assistant Yang Ji as co-superintendent. Shuxian also used Bian River water to silt fields; the people of Xiangfu and Zhongmou suffered severe flooding, and the Directorate of Waterways often objected.

三年三月，帝謂王安石、韓絳曰：「都水沮壞淤田者，以侵其職事爾。」安石曰：「必欲任屬，當以楊汲為都水監。今每事稟于沈立、張鞏，何能辦集。」七月，帝聞淤田多浸民田稼、屋宇，令內侍馮宗道往視，宗道以說者為妄。八月，叔獻、汲並權都水監丞、提舉沿汴淤田。

In the third month of the third year the emperor said to Wang Anshi and Han Jiang: "Those at the Directorate of Waterways who obstruct silt-field work do so only because it encroaches on their duties." Anshi replied, "If you truly mean to entrust the work, appoint Yang Ji director of waterways. Now every decision goes through Shen Li and Zhang Gong—how can anything be done?" In the seventh month the emperor heard that silt-field work was drowning crops and houses; he sent inner attendant Feng Zongdao to investigate, and Zongdao called the reports false. In the eighth month Shuxian and Ji were both made acting vice-directors of the Directorate of Waterways and superintendents of silt-field work along the Bian River.

九月戊申，遣殿中丞陳世修乘驛經度陳、潁州八丈溝故跡。初，世修言：「陳州項城縣界蔡河東岸有八丈溝，或斷或續，迤邐東去，由潁及壽，綿亙三百五十餘里，乞因其故道，量加浚治。興復大江、次河、射虎、流龍、百尺等陂塘，導水行溝中，棋布灌溉，俾數百里復為稻田，則其利百倍。」繪圖來上，帝意向之。王安石曰：「世修言引水事即可試，八丈溝新河則不然。昔鄧艾不賴蔡河漕運，故能並水東下，大興水田。厥後既分水以注蔡河，又有新修閘以限之，與昔不同。惟無所用水，即水可並而溝可復矣。」故先命世修相度。

On the day wushen in the ninth month, Palace Gentlemen Censor Chen Shixiu was sent by fast courier to survey the old course of the Bazhang Canal in Chen and Ying prefectures. Earlier Shixiu had said, "On the east bank of the Cai River at Xiangcheng County in Chenzhou lies the Bazhang Canal, broken in stretches yet running on, winding east through Ying to Shou for more than three hundred fifty li; I ask to follow its old bed and dredge it as needed. Restore the Great River, Ci River, Shehu, Liulong, Baichi, and other reservoirs and ponds; channel water through ditches laid out like a chessboard for irrigation, so that several hundred li again become rice fields—the benefit would be a hundredfold." He presented a map for the throne's review, and the Emperor favored the proposal. Wang Anshi said: "What Shi Xiushuo said about diverting water can be tried at once; the Eight-Zhang Ditch and the New River are not so. In earlier times Deng Ai had not depended on the Cai River for grain transport, which allowed him to combine water flows eastward and develop water-rice farming on a large scale. Later, however, water was diverted into the Cai River and new sluice gates were built to regulate flow, making conditions utterly different from the past. Only if no water is taken elsewhere can the streams be combined again and the ditches restored." The Emperor therefore instructed Shi Xiushuo to conduct a preliminary survey first.

四年三月，帝語侍臣：「中人視麥者，言淤田甚佳，有未淤不可耕之地，一望數百里。獨樞密院以淤田無益，謂其薄如餅。」安石曰：「就令薄，固可再淤，厚而後止。」是月，帝以慶州軍亂，召執政對資政殿。馮京曰：「府界既淤田，又行免役，作保甲，人極勞弊。」帝曰：「淤田于百姓何苦？聞土細如面。」王安石曰：「慶卒之變，陛下旰食。大臣宜於此時共圖消弭，乃合為浮議，歸咎淤田、保甲，了不相關，此非待至明而後察也。」十月，前知襄州光祿卿史炤言：「開修古淳河一百六里，灌田六千六百余頃，修治陂堰，民已獲利，慮州縣遽欲增稅。」詔三司應興修水利，墾開荒梗，毋增稅。

In the third month of the fourth year, the Emperor told his attendants: "Those who went to inspect the wheat report that silt-farming is excellent; there are still un-silted lands that cannot be cultivated, stretching for several hundred li as far as the eye can see. Only the Bureau of Military Affairs held that silt-farming was useless, saying the silt was thin as a cake." Anshi said: "Even if it is thin, it can certainly be silted again; one stops only when it is thick enough." That same month, after soldiers at Qing Prefecture rose in mutiny, the Emperor convened his chief ministers for consultation in the Hall for Supporting Governance. Feng Jing said: "Within the capital region they already have silt-farming, and also the exemption of corvée, and the baojia system—the people are extremely worn out." The Emperor said: "What hardship does silt-farming cause the common people? I hear the soil is fine as flour." Wang Anshi said: "At the mutiny of the Qingzhou troops, Your Majesty skipped meals from worry. The high ministers ought at this time to join in planning how to quell it; instead they band together in idle talk and blame silt-farming and baojia, which have nothing to do with it—this needs no great clarity to see." In the tenth month, Shi Zhao, former prefect of Xiangzhou and Chamberlain for Imperial Regalia, said: "Opening and repairing the ancient Chun River for one hundred sixty li irrigates more than sixty-six hundred qing of fields; repairing embankments and weirs—the people have already profited, but I fear the prefectures and counties will hastily seek to raise taxes." An imperial edict directed the Three Departments to refrain from raising taxes on lands reclaimed through new waterworks or cultivation.

五年二月侯叔獻等言：「民願買官淤田者七十餘戶，已分赤淤、花淤等，及定其直各有差，仍於次年起稅。若願增錢者，不以投狀先後給之。」五月，御史張商英言：「嘗聞獻議者請開鄧州穰縣永國渠，引湍河水灌溉民田，失邵信臣故道，鑿焦家莊，地勢偏仰，水不通流。」詔京西路覆實，遣程昉領其事。昉刳河去疏土，築為巨堰。水行再歲，會霖雨，溪穀合流大漲，堰下土疏惡，莫能禦，由此廢不復治。閏七月，程昉奏引漳、洺河淤地凡二千四百餘頃，帝曰：「灌溉之利，農事大本，但陝西、河東民素不習此，苟享其利，後必樂趨。三白渠為利尤大，有舊跡，可極力修治。凡疏積水，須自下流開導，則畎澮易治。《書》所謂'浚畎澮距川'是也。」

In the second month of the fifth year Hou Shuxian and others said: "More than seventy households wish to buy official silt-farmland; red silt, patterned silt, and other grades have been distinguished, and prices fixed with differences; taxation will begin the following year. If anyone wishes to pay more, allocation shall not depend on the order of petition submission." In the fifth month, Censor Zhang Shangying said: "I once heard that the proposer wished to open the Yongguo Canal in Rang County, Deng Prefecture, diverting Tuanhe water to irrigate private fields; he lost Shao Xinchen's old route, cut through Jiaojia Village—the terrain sloped upward and water could not flow through." The throne ordered a verification inquiry in Jingxi Circuit and put Cheng Fang in charge of the matter. Cheng Fang excavated the channel, removed loose soil, and constructed a massive weir. The project functioned for two years until torrential rains sent converging floods that the loose subsoil beneath the weir could not withstand, after which the works were abandoned unrepaired. In the intercalary seventh month Cheng Fang memorialized that silt land from the Zhang and Ming rivers totaled more than twenty-four hundred qing; the Emperor said: "The benefit of irrigation is the foundation of farming; but the people of Shaanxi and Hedong are not accustomed to this—once they enjoy the benefit, they will surely gladly rush to it afterward. The Three White Canals offered especially great potential, and with surviving traces still visible, they deserved the utmost effort in restoration. When draining standing water, channels should always be opened from downstream so that field ditches could be managed with ease. This is what the Book of Documents calls 'deepening ditches and channels to reach the rivers.'"

時人人爭言水利。提舉京西常平陳世修乞于唐州引淮水入東西邵渠，灌注九子等十五陂，溉田二百里。提舉陝西常平沈披乞復京兆府武功縣古跡六門堰，于石渠南二百步傍為土洞，以木為門，回改河流，溉田三百四十里。大抵迂闊少效。披坐前為兩浙提舉，開常州五瀉堰不當，法寺論之，至是降一官。十一月，陝西提舉常平楊蟠議修鄭、白渠，詔都水丞周良孺相視。乃自石門堰涇水開新渠，至三限口以合白渠。王安石請捐常平息錢助民興作，帝曰：「縱用內帑錢，亦何惜也。」

At that time proposals for water conservancy projects proliferated throughout the court. Chen Shiqiu, granary supervisor for Jingxi Circuit, proposed diverting Huai River water at Tang Prefecture into the Eastern and Western Shao Canals to fill fifteen reservoirs including Jiuzi and irrigate fields along two hundred li of channel. Shen Pi, Shaanxi granary supervisor, sought to restore the ancient Liumen Weir in Wugong County by building an earthen sluice chamber with wooden gates two hundred paces south of the stone canal to redirect the stream and irrigate three hundred forty li of farmland. For the most part such schemes were expansive yet impractical, yielding little result. Shen Pi had previously been investigated and demoted one rank for improperly opening Changzhou's Wuxie Weir while serving as Two-Zhe granary supervisor. In the eleventh month, Yang Pan of Shaanxi proposed restoring the Zheng and Bai canals, and the throne ordered waterways director Zhou Liangru to survey the site. A new channel was cut from the Jing River at Shimen Weir to Sanxiankou, where it joined the Bai Canal. Wang Anshi requested donating Ever-Normal surplus funds to help the people undertake the work; the Emperor said: "Even if imperial treasury funds are used, what is there to regret?"

六年三月，程昉言：「得共城縣舊河槽，若疏導入三渡河，可灌西垙稻田。」從之。五月，詔：「諸創置水磑碾碓妨灌溉民田者，以違制論。」命贊善大夫蔡朦修永興軍白渠。八月，程昉欲引水淤漳旁地，王安石以為長利，須及冬乃可經畫。九月丙辰，賜侯叔獻、楊汲府界淤田各十頃。十月，命叔獻理提點刑獄資序，周良孺與升一任，皆賞淤田之勞也。陽武縣民邢晏等三百六十四戶言：「田沙堿瘠薄，乞淤溉，候淤深一尺，計畝輸錢，以助興修。」詔與淤溉，勿輸錢。

In the third month of the sixth year Cheng Fang said: "We have found the old river bed in Gongcheng County; if it is cleared and led into the Sandu River, it can irrigate rice fields west of the embankment." The throne assented to the proposal. In the fifth month an edict said: "All newly established water mills and stamping mills that obstruct irrigation of private fields shall be charged under the statute for violation of regulations." The court appointed Gentlemen for Good Counsel Cai Meng to restore the Bai Canal in Yongxing Circuit. In the eighth month, Cheng Fang proposed silt enrichment along the Zhang River; Wang Anshi endorsed the long-term benefits but insisted that planning must wait until winter. On the bingchen day of the ninth month, Hou Shuxian and Yang Ji were each awarded ten qing of silt-enriched land in the capital region. In the tenth month, Hou Shuxian's service record as judicial intendant was regularized and Zhou Liangru was promoted one grade, both rewards for their contributions to silt farming. Three hundred sixty-four households led by Xing Yan of Yangwu County said: "Our fields are sandy, saline, and thin; we beg for silt irrigation; when silt reaches one foot in depth, we will pay per mu to assist construction." An edict granted them silt irrigation without requiring payment.

十二月，河北提舉常平韓宗師論程昉十六罪，盛陶亦言昉。帝以問安石，安石請令昉、宗師及京東轉運司各差官同考實以聞。還奏得良田萬頃，又淤四千餘頃。於是進呈。宗師疏至言：「昉奏百姓乞淤田，實未嘗乞。」帝曰：「此小失，何罪，但不知淤田如何爾？」安石曰：「今檢到好田萬頃，又淤田四千余頃，陛下以為不知，臣實未喻。」帝曰：「昉修漳河，漳河歲決；修滹沱，又無下尾。」安石力為辨說。已而宗師與昉皆放罪。他日，帝論唐太宗能受諫，安石因言：「陛下判功罪不及太宗。如程昉開閉四河，除漳河、黃河外，尚有溉淤及退出田四萬餘頃。自秦以來，水利之功，未有及此。止轉一官，又令與韓宗師同放罪，臣恐後世有以議聖德。」安石右昉，大率類此。

In the twelfth month, Han Zongshi of Hebei lodged sixteen charges against Cheng Fang, joined by Sheng Tao in criticizing him. When the Emperor consulted Wang Anshi, he recommended that Cheng Fang, Han Zongshi, and the Jingdong Transport Commission each dispatch officials for a joint investigation. Their report confirmed ten thousand qing of productive land plus over four thousand qing newly enriched by silt. The findings were then presented to the Emperor. When Zongshi's memorial arrived it said: "Fang memorialized that the common people begged for silt-farming—they in fact never begged." The Emperor said: "This is a small fault—what crime is there? I just do not know what silt-farming is like." Anshi said: "Now we have verified ten thousand qing of good fields and more than four thousand qing of silt-farmland—Your Majesty says you do not know; your servant truly does not understand." The Emperor said: "When Fang repaired the Zhang River, the Zhang River breached every year; when he repaired the Hutuo, again there was no lower outlet." Wang Anshi forcefully defended Cheng Fang. Eventually both Han Zongshi and Cheng Fang were absolved of charges. Another day the Emperor discussed how Tang Taizong could accept remonstrance; Anshi then said: "Your Majesty's judgments of merit and fault do not match Taizong's. He cited Cheng Fang's management of four rivers, which beyond the Zhang and Yellow Rivers alone had yielded over forty thousand qing of irrigated, silt-enriched, and reclaimed farmland. No hydraulic engineering achievement since the Qin dynasty had equaled it. He was merely shifted one rank, and again ordered released from punishment together with Han Zongshi—I fear posterity will use this to criticize Your sagely virtue." Wang Anshi's partisanship on Cheng Fang's behalf typified his broader pattern of advocacy.

是時，原武等縣民因淤田壞廬舍墳墓，妨秋稼，相率詣闕訴。使者聞之，急責縣令追呼，將杖之。民謬云：「詣闕謝耳。」使者因為民謝表，遣二吏詣鼓院投之，安石大喜。久之，帝始知雍丘等縣淤田清水頗害民田，詔提舉常平官視民耕地，蠲稅一料。樞密院奏：「淤田役兵多死，每一指揮，僅存軍員數人。」下提點司密究其事，提點司言：「死事者數不及三厘。」

Meanwhile, residents of Yuanwu and neighboring counties petitioned at the palace gates because silt farming had damaged homes and graves and ruined autumn crops. Upon learning of the petition, an imperial envoy urgently ordered the county magistrate to summon and flog the complainants. The people falsely said: "We only came to the gate to give thanks." The envoy then drafted a thank-you memorial on their behalf and dispatched two clerks to submit it at the Petition Drum Court, greatly pleasing Wang Anshi. Eventually the Emperor learned that clear silt-farming water from Yongqiu and other counties was damaging cropland, and ordered granary supervisors to assess affected fields and remit one season's taxes. The Bureau of Military Affairs memorialized: "Many soldiers died in corvée for silt-farming; in each command only a few troop members survived." The matter was sent down to the Judicial Intendant Commission for secret investigation; the Commission said: "Deaths in service numbered less than three tenths of one percent."

七年正月，程昉言：「滄州增修西流河堤，引黃河水淤田種稻，增灌塘泊，並深州開引滹沱水淤田，及開回胡盧河，並回滹沱河下尾。」六月，金州西城縣民葛德出私財修長樂堰，引水灌溉鄉戶土田，授本州司士參軍。八月甲戌，詔司農寺具所興修農田水利次第。九月，又詔：「籍所興水利，自今遣使體訪，其不實不當者，案驗以聞。」從侍御史張琥請也。十一月壬寅，知諫院鄧潤甫言：「淤田司引河水淤酸棗、陽武縣田，已役夫四五十萬，後以地下難淤而止。相度官吏初不審議，妄興夫役，乞加絀罰。」詔開封劾元檢計按覆官。丁未，同知諫院範百祿言：「向者都水監丞王孝先獻議，於同州朝邑縣界畎黃河，淤安昌等處鹼地。及放河水，而鹼地高原不能及，乃灌注朝邑縣長豐鄉永豐等十社千九百戶秋苗田三百六十餘頃。」詔蠲被水戶夏稅。是歲，知耀州閻充國募流民治漆水堤。

In the first month of the seventh year Cheng Fang said: "Cang Prefecture further repaired the Xiliu River embankment, drawing Yellow River water to silt fields and plant rice, increasing irrigation of ponds; also Shen Prefecture opened diversion of Hutuo water for silt-farming, and opened the Huilu River return channel and the lower outlet of the Hutuo." In the sixth month, Ge De of Xicheng County funded restoration of Changle Weir to irrigate local fields and was appointed Army Affairs Staff Officer of Jin Prefecture. On the jiaxu day of the eighth month, the throne ordered the Directorate of Agriculture to compile a full register of water conservancy projects. In the ninth month another edict said: "Register waterworks undertaken; from now send envoys to investigate on the spot; where false or improper, examine and report." The measure responded to a petition from Remonstrance Official Zhang Hu. On cyclical day renyin in the eleventh month Deng Runfu, Head of the Remonstrance Bureau, said: "The Silt-Farming Office drew river water to silt fields in Suanzao and Yangwu counties; already four or five hundred thousand laborers were deployed, then stopped because the ground below was hard to silt. The surveying officials did not deliberate carefully at first and rashly raised corvée; he begged added demotion and punishment." An edict directed Kaifeng authorities to investigate and discipline the officials responsible for the initial survey and planning. On cyclical day dingwei, Fan Bailu, Associate Head of the Remonstrance Bureau, said: "Formerly Director Assistant Wang Xiaoxian proposed at the border of Chaoyi County, Tong Prefecture, to cut into the Yellow River and silt alkaline land at Anchang and elsewhere. When the river water was released, the alkaline land on the high plateau could not be reached; instead it flooded three hundred sixty-odd qing of autumn-crop fields of nineteen hundred households in ten communities of Changfeng Township including Yongfeng in Chaoyi County." An edict remitted the summer tax levy for the inundated households. That year, Yao Prefecture magistrate Yan Chongguo recruited displaced persons to repair embankments along the Qi River.

八年正月，程昉言：「開滹沱、胡盧河直河淤田等部役官吏勞績，別為三等，乞推恩。」從之。三月庚戌，發京東常平米，募饑民修水利。四月，管轄京東淤田李孝寬言：「礬山漲水甚濁，乞開四斗門，引以淤田，權罷漕運再旬。」從之。深州靜安令任迪乞俟來年刈麥畢，全放滹沱、胡盧兩河，又引永靜軍雙陵口河水，淤溉南北岸田二萬七千余頃，河北安撫副使沈披請治保州東南沿邊陸地為水田，皆從之。閏四月丁未，提點秦鳳等路刑獄鄭民憲請于熙州南關以南開渠堰，堰引洮水並東山直北道下至北關，並自通遠軍熟羊砦導渭河至軍溉田。詔民憲經度，如可作陂，即募京西、江南陂匠以往。

In the first month of the eighth year Cheng Fang said: "Officials and laborers in opening the Hutuo, Huilu direct-river silt-farming and related projects—meritorious service should be ranked in three grades; he begged conferred grace." The court approved his petition. On the gengxu day of the third month, Jingdong Ever-Normal grain was distributed to employ famine victims in water conservancy repairs. In the fourth month Li Xiaokuan, overseer of Jingdong silt-farming, said: "Floodwater from Fanshan is very turbid; he begged to open four sluice gates to divert it for silt-farming, temporarily suspending transport grain for twenty days." The throne assented to the plan. Magistrate Ren Di of Shenzhou's Jing'an County proposed releasing winter flows from the Hutuo and Huilu after the wheat harvest and diverting Yongjing's Shuanglingkou water to enrich twenty-seven thousand qing on both banks; Assistant Pacification Commissioner Shen Pi sought to convert Bao Prefecture's southeastern borderlands to paddies—all approved. Zheng Minxian of Qinfeng Circuit proposed building weirs south of Xizhou's South Gate to channel Tao River water along the eastern foothills route and divert Wei River from Shuyang Fort at Tongyuan Army for irrigation. The throne ordered Zheng Minxian to survey the project and, if feasible, recruit embankment craftsmen from Jingxi and Jiangnan.

五月乙酉，右班殿直、幹當修內司楊琰言：「開封、陳留、咸平三縣種稻，乞于陳留界舊汴河下口，因新舊二堤之間修築水塘，用碎甓築虛堤五步以來，取汴河清水入塘灌溉。」從之。七月，江寧府上元縣主簿韓宗厚引水溉田二千七百餘頃，遷光祿寺丞。太原府草澤史守一修晉祠水利，溉田六百餘頃。八月，知河中府陸經奏，管下淤官私田約二千餘頃，下司農覆實。九月癸未，提舉出賣解鹽張景溫言：「陳留等八縣鹼地，可引黃、汴河水淤溉。」詔次年差夫。十二月癸丑，侯叔獻言：「劉瑾相度淮南合興修水利，僅十萬餘頃，皆並運河，乞候開河畢工，以水利司錢募民修築圩垾。」

On fifth month yiyou, Yang Yan, Right Guard Rectifier serving in the Directorate of Palace Repairs, said: "Kaifeng, Chenliu, and Xianping three counties grow rice; he begged at Chenliu border old Bian River lower mouth, between new and old dikes, to build a water pond, using broken tile to build a hollow dike of five paces or so, taking clear Bian River water into the pond for irrigation." The court granted approval. In the seventh month, Han Zonghou of Shangyuan County irrigated over twenty-seven hundred qing and was promoted to Gentlemen of the Imperial Regalia. Commoner Shi Shouyi of Taiyuan restored the Jinci irrigation system, watering over six hundred qing. In the eighth month, Hezhong Prefecture magistrate Lu Jing reported roughly two thousand qing of silt-enriched official and private land, referred to the Directorate of Agriculture for verification. On cyclical day guiwei in the ninth month Zhang Jingwen, supervisor of Jie Salt sales, said: "Alkaline land in eight counties including Chenliu can have Yellow and Bian river water drawn to silt-irrigate." An edict scheduled corvée labor for the following year. On cyclical day guichou in the twelfth month Hou Shuxian said: "Liu Jin surveyed Huainan jointly to undertake waterworks totaling only a hundred thousand-odd qing, all alongside the transport canal; he begged to wait until canal opening is complete, then use Waterworks Office funds to recruit people to build embankments and dikes."

九年八月，程師孟言：「河東多土山高下，旁有川穀，每春夏大雨，眾水合流，濁如黃河礬山水，俗謂之天河水，可以淤田。絳州正平縣南董村旁有馬璧谷水，嘗誘民置地開渠，淤瘠田五百餘頃。其餘州縣有天河水及泉源處，亦開渠築堰。凡九州二十六縣，新舊之田，皆為沃壤，嘉祐五年畢功，纘成《水利圖經》二卷，迨今十七年矣。聞南董村田畝舊直三兩千，收穀五七斗。自灌淤後，其直三倍，所收至三兩石。今臣權領都水淤田，竊見累歲淤京東、西堿鹵之地，盡成膏腴，為利極大。尚慮河東猶有荒瘠之田，可引天河淤溉者。」於是遣都水監丞耿琬淤河東路田。

In the eighth month of year nine, Cheng Shiming explained that Hedong's mountainous terrain produced seasonal torrents turbid as Yellow River or Fanshan floodwater—locally called "Heaven River water"—ideal for silt farming. At Mabigu Creek near Nandong Village in Zhengping County, Jiang Prefecture, a canal project had enriched over five hundred qing of formerly barren land through community land contributions. Similar canal and weir projects were undertaken wherever Heaven River flows or springs were found in other counties. Across nine prefectures and twenty-six counties, old and new fields alike became fertile land; the project was completed in Jiayou year five and compiled into a two-fascicle Water Conservancy Gazetteer—seventeen years before the present account. Reports indicated that land at Nandong Village had once been priced at 3,200 cash yet produced no more than five to seven dou per mu. Once silt irrigation was applied, land values tripled and yields rose to two or three shi. As acting head of silt-field operations under the Directorate of Waterways, I have observed year after year that alkaline soils in Jingdong and Jingxi were transformed into rich farmland—a benefit of the first order. I still worry that in Hedong there remain barren fields that could have Heaven River water drawn to silt and irrigate them." The court accordingly sent Geng Wan, vice director of the Directorate of Waterways, to undertake silt farming in Hedong Circuit.

十年六月，師孟、琬引河水淤京東、西沿汴田九千餘頃；七月，前權提點開封府界劉淑奏淤田八千七百餘頃；三人皆減磨勘年以賞之。九月，入內內侍省都知張茂則言：「河北東、西路夏秋霖雨，諸河決溢，占壓民田。」詔委官開畎。

In the sixth month of year ten, Cheng Shiming and Geng Wan used river water to silt over nine thousand qing of Bian-side fields in Jingdong and Jingxi. In the seventh month, Liu Shu, former acting intendant of the Kaifeng metropolitan circuit, reported more than eight thousand seven hundred qing of silted land. All three received shortened merit-review cycles as reward. In the ninth month, Zhang Maozhe, Chief Director of the Inner Attendant Service of the Inner Palace, said: "In Hebei East and West Circuits, summer and autumn rains brought floods; various rivers broke their banks and overflowed, submerging the people's fields." An edict ordered officials to open drainage channels.

元豐元年二月，都大提舉淤田司言：「京東、西淤官私瘠地五千八百餘頃，乞差使臣管幹。」許之。四月，詔：「辟廢田、興水利、建立堤防、修貼圩垾之類，民力不給者，許貸常平錢谷。」六月，京東路體量安撫黃廉言：「梁山張澤兩濼，十數年來淤澱，每歲泛浸近城民田，乞自張澤濼下流浚至濱州，可泄壅滯。」從之。十二月壬申，二府奏事，語及淤田之利。帝曰：「大河源深流長，皆山川膏腴滲漉，故灌溉民田，可以變斥鹵而為肥沃。朕取淤土親嘗，極為潤膩。」二年，導洛通汴。六月，罷沿汴淤田司。十二月辛酉，置提舉定州路水利司。二年，知濰州楊采開白浪河。

In the second month of the first year of Yuanfeng, the Chief Supervisor of the Silt-Field Office said: "In Jingdong and Jingxi, official and private barren land silted totals more than five thousand eight hundred qing; we beg to dispatch commissioners to manage it." The request was approved. In the fourth month an edict stated: "Matters such as reclaiming abandoned fields, promoting waterworks, building dikes, and repairing polder embankments—where the people's strength is insufficient, loans from Ever-Normal grain and cash are permitted." In the sixth month Huang Lian, pacification commissioner surveying Jingdong Circuit, said: "The two marshes at Liangshan and Zhangze have silted and deposited for over ten years; each year they broadly inundate fields near the city; I beg to dredge from the lower reaches of Zhangze Marsh to Bin Prefecture, which can discharge the blockage and stagnation." The court granted approval. On renshen day in the twelfth month, the Two Councils presented business to the throne and discussion turned to the benefits of silt farming. The Emperor said: "The Great River's source is deep and its flow long; all the fertile richness of mountains and rivers seeps into it, so irrigating the people's fields can transform saline and alkaline soil into fertile land. I took silt soil and tasted it myself—it is extremely moist and fine." In the second year the Luo River was linked to the Bian Canal. In the sixth month the Bian-side Silt-Field Office was abolished. On xinyou day in the twelfth month, a Water Conservancy Office was established for Dingzhou Circuit. That same year Yang Cai, magistrate of Weizhou, opened the Bailang River.

哲宗元祐以後，朝廷方務邊事，水利亦浸緩矣。四年二月甲辰，詔：「瀕河州縣，積水占田，在任官能為民溝畎疏導，退出良田百頃至千頃以上者，遞賞之，功利大者取特旨。」四年六月乙丑，知陳州胡宗愈言：「本州地勢卑下，秋夏之間，許蔡汝鄧、西京及開封諸處大雨，則諸河之水，並由陳州沙河、蔡河同入潁河，不能容受，故境內瀦為陂澤。今沙河合入潁河處，有古八丈溝，可以開浚，分決蔡河之水，自為一支，由潁、壽界直入於淮，則沙河之水雖甚洶湧，不能壅遏。」詔可。

After the Yuanyou era under Emperor Zhezong, as the court turned to frontier defense, water conservancy work likewise fell into gradual neglect. On the jiachen day in the second month of the fourth year, an edict stated: "In prefectures and counties along rivers, where accumulated water submerges fields, if an official in office can open ditches and channels for the people and drain them, restoring good fields from one hundred qing up to one thousand qing or more, he shall receive graduated rewards; where the achievement and benefit are great, special edicts may be sought." On the yichou day in the sixth month of the fourth year, Hu Zongyu, prefect of Chen Prefecture, said: "Our prefecture's terrain is low; between summer and autumn, when heavy rains fall at Xu, Cai, Ru, Deng, the Western Capital, Kaifeng, and other places, the waters of all rivers jointly enter the Ying River through the Sha and Cai rivers of Chen Prefecture; the Ying cannot contain them, so water backs up into marshes and ponds within our territory. Now at the place where the Sha River joins the Ying River there is the ancient Eight-Zhang Ditch, which can be opened and dredged to divide and release the Cai River's water as a separate branch, running through the Ying-Shou border straight into the Huai. Then even if the Sha River's water is greatly swollen, it cannot be dammed and blocked." The throne approved the plan.

徽宗建中靖國元年十一月庚辰，赦書略曰：「熙甯、元豐中，諸路專置提舉官，兼領農田水利，應民田堤防灌溉之利，莫不修舉。近多因循廢弛，慮歲久日更隳壞，命典者以時檢舉推行。」

On cyclical day gengchen in the eleventh month of the first year of Jianzhong Jingguo under Emperor Huizong, an amnesty document stated in part: "In the Xining and Yuanfeng periods, each circuit had specially appointed supervisors who also oversaw farmland and waterworks; every benefit to the people's fields from dikes, embankments, and irrigation was without exception maintained and restored. Recently much has been allowed to lapse through inertia and neglect; fearing that over years and days it will fall further into ruin, those in charge are ordered to inspect and implement in due season."

崇寧二年三月，宰臣蔡京言：「熙甯初，修水土之政，元祐例多廢弛。紹復先烈，當在今日。如荒閑可耕，瘠鹵可腴，陸可為水，水可為陸，陂塘可修，灌溉可復，積潦可泄，圩垾可興，許民具陳利害。或官為借貸，或自備工力，或從官辦集。如能興修，依格酬獎，事功顯著，優與推恩。」從之。

In the third month of the second year of Chongning, Chancellor Cai Jing said: "At the beginning of Xining, water and soil policy was restored; under Yuanyou precedent much was abandoned and neglected. He argued that restoring the achievements of earlier reigns could brook no further delay. Wherever wasteland could be farmed, saline soil reclaimed, dry fields irrigated, flooded land drained, ponds restored, or polder dikes rebuilt, citizens were invited to submit detailed accounts of costs and benefits. Projects might receive official loans, rely on private labor, or proceed under government organization. If they can undertake construction and repair, rewards shall follow the regulations; where merit is outstanding, special grace shall be generously granted." The court approved the proposal.

三年十月，臣僚言：「元豐官制，水之政令，詳立法之意，非徒為穿塞開導、修舉目前而已，凡天下水利，皆在所掌。在今尤急者，如浙右積水，比連震澤，未有歸宿，此最宜講明而未之及者也。願推廣元豐修明水政，條具以聞。」從之。

In the tenth month of the third year officials said: "Under the Yuanfeng bureaucratic system, the ordinances on water affairs were legislated with thorough intent—not merely to dig, block, open, and guide for present needs; all waterworks under Heaven fall within its charge. Most pressing was the stagnant floodwater of eastern Zhejiang, connected to Lake Tai yet lacking any outlet—a problem urgently requiring study but still unaddressed. We wish to extend the Yuanfeng program of restoring and clarifying water administration, and to itemize proposals in a memorial." The court granted the request.

岷江水發源處古導江，今為永康軍。《漢史》所謂秦蜀守李冰始鑿離堆，辟沫水之害，是也。

The Min River rises at ancient Daojiang, now Yongkang Military Prefecture. This is the work described in the History of Han, in which Li Bing, governor of Shu under Qin, first cut the Li Heap to control the Mo River.

沫水出蜀西徼外，今陽山江、大皂江皆為沫水，入於西川。始，嘉、眉、蜀、益間，夏潦洋溢，必有潰暴沖決可畏之患。自鑿離堆以分其勢，一派南流于成都以合岷江，一派由永康至瀘州以合大江，一派入東川，而後西川沫水之害減，而耕桑之利博矣。

The Mo River rises beyond Shu’s western frontier; today the Yangshan and Great Zao rivers are its branches, flowing into western Shu. Formerly the regions of Jia, Mei, Shu, and Yi suffered summer floods that burst banks and caused catastrophic breaches. After Li Bing split the flow at the Li Heap—one channel south through Chengdu into the Min, one from Yongkang to Luzhou into the Yangtze, and one into eastern Shu—the Mo River’s devastation eased and agriculture and sericulture flourished across western Shu.

皂江支流迤北曰都江口，置大堰，疏北流為三：曰外應，溉永康之導江、成都之新繁，而達于懷安之金堂；東北曰三石洞，溉導江與彭之九隴、崇甯、濛陽，而達於漢之雒；東南曰馬騎，溉導江與彭之崇甯、成都之郫、溫江、新都、新繁、成都、華陽。三流而下，派別支分，不可悉紀，其大者十有四：自外應而分，曰保堂，曰倉門；自三石洞曰將軍橋，曰灌田，曰雒源；自馬騎曰石址，曰豉彘，曰道溪，曰東穴，曰投龍，曰北，曰樽下，曰玉徙。而石渠之水，則自離堆別而東，與上下馬騎、乾溪合。凡為堰九：曰李光，曰膺村，曰百丈，曰石門，曰廣濟，曰顏上，曰弱水，曰濟，曰導，皆以堤攝北流，注之東而防其決。離堆之南，實支流故道，以竹籠石為大堤，凡七壘，如象鼻狀以捍之。離堆之趾，舊鑱石為水則，則盈一尺，至十而止。水及六則，流始足用，過則從侍郎堰減水河泄而歸於江。歲作侍郎堰，必以竹為繩，自北引而南，准水則第四以為高下之度。江道既分，水復湍暴，沙石填委，多成灘磧。歲暮水落，築堤壅水上流，春正月則役工浚治，謂之「穿淘。」

Northward along a Zao River tributary lies Duojiang Mouth, where a major weir divides the north flow into three channels: Waiying waters Daojiang in Yongkang and Xinfan in Chengdu, reaching Jintang in Huai'an. The northeastern channel, San Shidong, irrigates Daojiang and Pengzhou’s Jiulong, Chongning, and Mengyang, reaching Luo in Hanzhong. The southeastern channel, Maqi, waters Daojiang, Chongning in Pengzhou, and Pi, Wenjiang, Xindu, Xinfan, Chengdu, and Huayang. Below the three main channels the network subdivides beyond complete enumeration; fourteen major branches are named, among them Baotang and Cangmen off Waiying. From San Shidong come Jiangjun Bridge, Guantian, and Luoyuan. From Maqi come Shizhi, Chishi, Daoxi, Dongxue, Toulong, Bei, Zunxia, and Yuxi. The Stone Canal diverges east from the Li Heap and merges with the upper and lower Maqi channels and Ganxi. Nine weirs in all—Liguang, Yingcun, Baizhang, Shimen, Guangji, Yanshang, Ruoshui, Ji, and Dao—use embankments to confine northward flow, direct it east, and prevent breaches. South of the Li Heap lies an old branch channel defended by a great dike of bamboo cages and stone, seven tiers stacked like an elephant's trunk. At the Li Heap's base, carved stone water marks measured depth in one-chi increments up to ten marks. At six marks the flow sufficed for irrigation; above that, surplus water was discharged through the Vice Minister Weir's bypass channel back into the river. Each year when the Vice Minister Weir was rebuilt, bamboo ropes were stretched north to south, using the fourth water mark as the elevation guide. After the channel was divided, currents ran swift again, depositing sand and gravel that formed extensive shoals. When winter low water arrived, upstream dikes were raised to hold back the flow; in the first month of spring laborers dredged the channels in the operation known as "channel scouring."

元祐間，差憲臣提舉，守臣提督，通判提轄。縣各置籍，凡堰高下、闊狹、淺深，以至灌溉頃畝、夫役工料及監臨官吏，皆注於籍，歲終計效，賞如格。政和四年，又因臣僚之請，檢計修作不能如式以致決壞者，罰亦如之。大觀二年七月，詔曰：「蜀江之利，置堰溉田，旱則引灌，澇則疏導，故無水旱。然歲計修堰之費，敷調於民，工作之人，並緣為奸，濱江之民，困於騷動。自今如敢妄有檢計，大為工費，所剩坐贓論，入己准自盜法，許人告。」

Under Yuanyou, censorial commissioners supervised the system, prefects directed repairs, and vice-prefects handled local jurisdiction. Each county kept registers recording every weir's dimensions, irrigated acreage, labor and materials, and supervising officials; year-end performance was assessed and rewards dispensed by regulation. In Zhenghe 4, officials also secured penalties for substandard repairs that led to breaches. In the seventh month of the second year of Daguan an edict stated: "The benefit of the Shu River lies in building weirs to irrigate fields—drawing water in drought and draining in flood—so there is neither drought nor flood. Yet annual repair costs were levied on the populace, workers exploited the system, and riverside communities suffered repeated disruption. From now on, whoever dares falsely to inspect and greatly inflate labor costs—the surplus shall be prosecuted as embezzlement; taking it for oneself shall follow the law on self-theft; informants are permitted."

興元府褒斜谷口，古有六堰，澆溉民田，頃畝浩瀚。每春首，隨食水戶田畝多寡，均出夫力修葺。後經靖康之亂，民力不足，夏月暴水，沖損堰身。紹興二十二年，利州東路帥臣楊庚奏謂：「若全資水戶修理，農忙之時，恐致重困。欲過夏月，於見屯將兵內差不入隊人，並力修治，庶幾便民。」從之。

At Baoxie Valley in Xingyuan Prefecture stood six ancient weirs irrigating an extensive area of farmland. Each spring, water-user households shared repair corvée in proportion to their irrigated holdings. After the Jingkang upheaval, depleted communities could not maintain the works, and summer floods repeatedly damaged the weirs. In the twenty-second year of Shaoxing, Yang Geng, commander of Lizhou East Circuit, memorialized: "If repair is funded entirely by water-user households, in the busy farming season I fear it will cause heavy hardship. I wish, after the summer months, to select men from stationed garrison troops who are not on rotation duty and join forces in repair, that the people may be somewhat relieved." The court approved the memorial.

興元府山河堰灌溉甚廣，世傳為漢蕭何所作。嘉祐中，提舉常平史炤奏上堰法，獲降敕書，刻石堰上。中興以來，戶口凋疏，堰事荒廢，累增修葺，旋即決壞。乾道七年，遂委御前諸軍統制吳拱經理，發卒萬人助役，盡修六堰，浚大小渠六十五，復見古跡，並用水工准法修定。凡溉南鄭、褒城田二十三萬餘畝，昔之瘠薄，今為膏腴。四川宣撫王炎表稱拱宣力最多，詔書褒美焉。

Xingyuan's Shanhe Weir irrigates a vast area; tradition attributes its construction to the Han minister Xiao He. During Jiayou, Ever-Normal intendant Shi Zhao submitted weir regulations to the throne and had the resulting imperial rescript carved in stone at the weir. Since the dynastic restoration, depopulation had left the weirs neglected; each round of repairs was followed almost immediately by new breaches. In Qiandao 7, Imperial Front Army commander Wu Gong was put in charge with ten thousand troops; all six weirs were rebuilt, sixty-five canals dredged, ancient works restored, and standards brought into line with waterworks regulations. The system ultimately watered over 230,000 mu in Nanzheng and Baocheng, transforming once thin soil into rich farmland. Sichuan pacification commissioner Wang Yan memorialized that Wu Gong had done the most, and the throne issued a commendatory edict.

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