Volume 66 Treatises 19: Rivers and Canals 3

河渠三○黃河

Rivers and Canals 3 — The Yellow River

至正四年夏五月，大雨二十餘日，黃河暴溢，水平地深二丈許，北決白茅堤。六月，又北決金堤，並河郡邑濟寧、單州、虞城、碭山、金鄉、魚臺、豐、沛、定陶、楚丘、武城，以至曹州、東明、鉅野、鄆城、嘉祥、汶上、任城等處皆罹水患，民老弱昏墊，壯者流離四方。水勢北侵安山，沿入會通、運河，延袤濟南、河間，將壞兩漕司鹽場，妨國計甚重。省臣以聞，朝廷患之，遣使體量，仍督大臣訪求治河方略。

In the fifth month of summer in Zhizheng 4 (1344), rain fell heavily for over twenty days. The Yellow River surged out of its banks until the flood stood some two zhang deep across the plain, and the river broke north through the Baimao Dike. In the sixth month the river broke north again through the Jindi Dike. Every county and town along its course—from Jining, Shanzhou, Yucheng, and Dangshan through Feng, Pei, Dingtao, and beyond to Caozhou, Dongming, Juye, Yuncheng, Jiaxiang, Wenshang, Rencheng, and the rest—was stricken by flood. The elderly and infirm were swept under in the deluge, while able-bodied people fled in every direction. The floodwaters drove north into Anshan and poured into the Huitong and Grand Canal, spreading through Jinan and Hejian and threatening to ruin the salt fields of both transport bureaus—a blow of grave consequence to state finances. Provincial officials reported the disaster to court, which was deeply alarmed. It dispatched envoys to survey the damage and ordered senior ministers to search out plans for bringing the river under control.

九年冬，脫脫既復為丞相，慨然有志於事功，論及河決，即言於帝，請躬任其事，帝嘉納之。乃命集群臣議廷中，而言人人殊，唯都漕運使賈魯，昌言必當治。先是，魯嘗為山東道奉使宣撫首領官，循行被水郡邑，具得修捍成策；後又為都水使者，奉旨詣河上相視，驗狀為圖，以二策進獻：一議修築北堤以制橫潰，其用功省；一議疏塞並舉，挽河使東行以復故道，其功費甚大。至是復以二策封，脫脫韙其後策。議定，乃薦魯於帝，大稱旨。

In the winter of Zhizheng 9 (1349), Toghto had returned to the chancellorship and was eager to accomplish something lasting. When the breached Yellow River came up for discussion, he asked the emperor to let him take personal charge of the project, and the emperor gladly agreed. The emperor summoned the ministers to debate the matter in court. Opinions diverged widely, but Jia Lu, Director of Transport, alone declared forthrightly that the river had to be brought under control. Earlier, Jia Lu had served as chief officer on the Shandong circuit pacification commission, touring flood-stricken counties and towns and mastering the proven methods of dike repair and flood defense; He later became Commissioner of Waterworks and was sent to inspect the river on imperial orders. After surveying conditions and drawing maps, he submitted two plans: one called for strengthening the northern dike to halt lateral breaches, at relatively modest cost; the other proposed dredging and blocking together, forcing the river eastward back into its old course, at vastly greater labor and expense. Now he again submitted both plans in sealed memorials, and Toghto endorsed the second. Once policy was settled, Toghto recommended Jia Lu to the emperor, who was thoroughly pleased.

十一年四月初四日，下詔中外，命魯以工部尚書為總治河防使，進秩二品，授以銀印。發汴梁、大名十有三路民十五萬人，廬州等戍十有八翼軍二萬人供役，一切從事大小軍民，咸稟節度，便宜興繕。是月二十二日鳩工，七月疏鑿成，八月決水故河，九月舟楫通行，十一月水土工畢，諸掃諸堤成。河乃復故道，南匯於淮，又東入於海。帝遣貴臣報祭河伯，召魯還京師，論功超拜榮祿大夫、集賢大學士，其宣力諸臣遷賞有差，賜丞相脫脫世襲答剌罕之號，特命翰林學士承旨歐陽玄制河平碑文，以旌勞績。

On the fourth day of the fourth month of Zhizheng 11 (1351), an edict went out to the empire appointing Jia Lu Minister of Works and Commissioner General for Yellow River Control, raising him to second rank and granting a silver seal. One hundred fifty thousand civilians were drafted from the thirteen circuits centered on Bianliang and Daming, and twenty thousand troops from eighteen garrison wings at Luzhou and elsewhere were put to work. Every laborer, soldier or civilian, fell under Jia Lu's command, with full authority to undertake construction as circumstances required. Labor was mustered on the twenty-second of that month. Dredging was finished in the seventh month, the sluice was opened into the old channel in the eighth, boats were passing by the ninth, and by the eleventh month all earthworks and waterworks were done—every fascine revetment and every dike in place. The Yellow River returned to its old course, flowing south to join the Huai and then eastward to the sea. The emperor sent high officials to report the sacrifice to the River Lord and summoned Jia Lu back to the capital. For his service Jia Lu was promoted beyond the usual grades to Grand Master for Glorious Emolument and Grand Academician of the Hall of Gathered Worthies; other officials who had labored on the project received promotions and rewards in varying measure; Chancellor Toghto was granted the hereditary title of Darqan; and Hanlin Academician Ouyang Xuan was commissioned to compose the Stele on Pacifying the River, to commemorate the achievement.

玄既為河平之碑，又自以為司馬遷、班固記河渠溝洫，僅載治水之道，不言其方，使後世任斯事者無所考則，乃從魯訪問方略，及詢過客，質吏牘，作《至正河防記》，欲使來世罹河患者按而求之。其言曰：

After composing the pacification stele, Ouyang Xuan reflected that Sima Qian and Ban Gu, in their treatises on rivers and canals, recorded only general principles of water control, not the practical methods—leaving later engineers nothing concrete to follow. He therefore interviewed Jia Lu about his methods, questioned travelers who had witnessed the work, checked official records, and wrote the Record of Zhizheng River Control so that future generations facing river disasters might find actionable guidance within it. It reads in part:

治河一也，有疏、有浚、有塞，三者異焉。釃河之流，因而導之，謂之疏。去河之淤，因而深之，謂之浚。抑河之暴，因而扼之，謂之塞。疏浚之別有四：曰生地，曰故道，曰河身，曰減水河。生地有直有紆，因直而鑿之，可就故道。故道有高有卑，高者平之以趨卑，高卑相就，則高不壅，卑不瀦，慮夫壅生潰，瀦生堙也。河身者，水雖通行，身有廣狹，狹難受水，水益悍，故狹者以計辟之；廣難為岸，岸善崩，故廣者以計禦之。減水河者，水放曠則以制其狂，水隳突則以殺其怒。

River control is a single enterprise, but it comprises three distinct methods: channeling, dredging, and blocking. To divide the river's current and guide it along a chosen path is called channeling (shu). To remove sediment from the riverbed and thereby deepen the channel is called dredging (jun). To restrain the river's fury and choke off its escape is called blocking (sai). Channeling and dredging fall into four categories: work through new ground, work in the old channel, work on the river body itself, and work on flood-relief channels. New ground may run straight or wind about; cutting along the straighter line can bring the channel back to the old course. The old channel has high and low stretches: the highs must be leveled down toward the lows so that water does not dam up on the highs or pool on the lows—for a dammed stretch breeds breaches, and a pooled stretch breeds siltation. The river body may carry water, yet its width varies: narrow stretches cannot take the full flow and the current grows violent, so narrow sections must be deliberately widened; wide stretches are hard to bank and banks there collapse easily, so wide sections must be deliberately fortified. Flood-relief channels tame the river when it runs unrestrained, and bleed off its force when it surges destructively.

治堤一也，有創築、修築、補築之名，有剌水堤，有截河堤，有護岸堤，有縷水堤，有石船堤。

Dike work is likewise a single category, subdivided into new construction, repair, and patching. It includes spike-water dikes, river-cutting dikes, bank-protecting dikes, thread-water dikes, and stone-ship dikes.

治掃一也，有岸掃、水掃，有龍尾、欄頭、馬頭等掃。其為掃臺及推卷、牽制、珣掛之法，有用土、用石、用鐵、用草、用木、用杙、用縆之方。

Fascine revetment is another unified category, comprising bank fascines and water fascines, with types named dragon-tail, railing-head, horse-head, and the like. Building fascine platforms and the techniques of rolling, anchoring, and suspending fascines draw on earth, stone, iron, grass, timber, stakes, and rope in various combinations.

塞河一也，有缺口，有豁口，有龍口。缺口者，已成川。豁口者，舊常為水所豁，水退則口下於堤，水漲則溢出於口。龍口者，水之所會，自新河入故道之潀也。

Blocking the river is likewise one enterprise, with breach gaps, notch gaps, and dragon mouths. A breach gap is a break that has already become a full channel. A notch gap is a place the river has long scoured open: when the water falls the opening sits below the dike crest, and when it rises the flood spills through the notch. A dragon mouth is the confluence where the new channel pours into the old—the critical junction of the whole project.

此外不能悉書，因其用功之次第，而就述於其下焉。

Not every detail can be recorded here; what follows is arranged in the order the work was actually carried out.

其浚故道，深廣不等，通長二百八十里百五十四步而強。功始自白茅，長百八十二里。繼自黃陵岡至南白茅，辟生地十里。口初受，廣百八十步，深二丈有二尺，已下停廣百步，高下不等，相折深二丈及泉。曰停、曰折者，用古算法，因此推彼，知其勢之低昂，相準折而取勻停也。南白茅至劉莊村，接入故道十里，通折墾廣八十步，深九尺。劉莊至專固，百有二里二百八十步，通折停廣六十步，深五尺。專固至黃固，墾生地八里，面廣百步，底廣九十步，高下相折，深丈有五尺。黃固至哈只口，長五十一里八十步，相折停廣墾六十步，深五尺。乃浚凹裏減水河，通長九十八里百五十四步。凹裏村缺河口生地，長三里四十步，面廣六十步，底廣四十步，深一丈四尺。自凹裏生地以下舊河身至張贊店，長八十二里五十四步。上三十六里，墾廣二十步，深五尺；中三十五里，墾廣二十八步，深五尺；下十里二百四十步，墾廣二十六步，深五尺。張贊店至楊青村，接入故道，墾生地十有三里六十步，面廣六十步，底廣四十步，深一丈四尺。

Dredging the old channel—depth and width varying along its course—ran in all to two hundred eighty li, one hundred fifty-four paces, and a fraction. Work began at Baimao and extended one hundred eighty-two li. From Huangling Hillock to South Baimao a new channel ten li long was cut through undeveloped ground. At the intake mouth the channel was one hundred eighty paces wide and two zhang two chi deep; downstream it was leveled to an even width of one hundred paces, with depth adjusted in stages to two zhang down to spring level. The terms 'even' (ting) and 'adjusted' (zhe) refer to an ancient surveying method: measuring one section to infer the next, gauging how the terrain rises and falls, and grading the channel in stages until the slope was uniform. From South Baimao to Liuzhuang Village the work joined the old channel for ten li, dredged to an adjusted width of eighty paces and depth of nine chi. From Liuzhuang to Zhuangu—one hundred two li and two hundred eighty paces—the channel was graded to an even width of sixty paces and depth of five chi. From Zhuangu to Huanggu workers cut eight li through new ground, with a surface width of one hundred paces, bottom width of ninety paces, graded slope, and depth of one zhang five chi. From Huanggu to Hazhi Mouth—fifty-one li and eighty paces—the dredged width was graded to sixty paces even and depth to five chi. Workers next dredged the Aoli flood-relief channel, ninety-eight li and one hundred fifty-four paces in all. At the breach-gap mouth near Aoli Village, new ground three li and forty paces long was cut with a surface width of sixty paces, bottom width of forty paces, and depth of one zhang four chi. From the Aoli new ground downstream through the old riverbed to Zhangzan Shop measured eighty-two li and fifty-four paces. The upper thirty-six li were dredged twenty paces wide and five chi deep; the middle thirty-five li twenty-eight paces wide and five chi deep; the lower ten li and two hundred forty paces twenty-six paces wide and five chi deep. From Zhangzan Shop to Yangqing Village the channel rejoined the old course after thirteen li and sixty paces of new ground dredged to a surface width of sixty paces, bottom width of forty paces, and depth of one zhang four chi.

其塞專固缺口，修堤三重，並補築凹裏減水河南岸豁口，通長二十里三百十有七步。其創築河口前第一重西堤，南北長三百三十步，面廣二十五步，底廣三十三步，樹置樁橛，實以土牛、草葦、雜梢相兼，高丈有三尺，堤前置龍尾大掃。言龍尾者，伐大樹連梢系之堤旁，隨水上下，以破嚙岸浪者也。築第二重正堤，並補兩端舊堤，通長十有一里三百步。缺口正堤長四里，兩堤相接舊堤，置樁堵閉河身，長百四十五步，用土牛、草葦、梢土相兼修築，底廣三十步，修高二丈。其岸上土工修築者，長三里二百十有五步有奇，高廣不等，通高一丈五尺。補築舊堤者，長七里三百步，表裏倍薄七步，增卑六尺，計高一丈。築第三重東後堤，並接修舊堤，高廣不等，通長八里。補築凹裏減水河南岸豁口四處，置樁木，草土相兼，長四十七步。

Blocking the Zhuangu breach gap involved three tiers of dikes plus patching notch gaps on the south bank of the Aoli flood-relief channel—twenty li and three hundred seventeen paces in all. The first new western dike before the river mouth ran three hundred thirty paces north to south, twenty-five paces wide at the crest and thirty-three at the base, reinforced with piles and packed with earth clods, reeds, and brush to a height of one zhang three chi, with a great dragon-tail fascine set before it. A 'dragon-tail' fascine consists of large trees felled with branches still attached, moored beside the dike to ride the water up and down and break the waves that chew at the bank. Workers built the second-tier main dike and patched the old dikes at both ends—eleven li and three hundred paces altogether. The main dike at the breach gap ran four li, linking to the old dikes on either side. Piles were driven to seal the river channel for one hundred forty-five paces, packed with earth clods, reeds, and brush to a base thirty paces wide and height of two zhang. Bank earthworks extended three li, two hundred fifteen paces and a fraction, varying in height and width but averaging one zhang five chi high. Patched sections of the old dike ran seven li and three hundred paces; both faces were widened by seven paces, low sections raised six chi, for a total height of one zhang. The third-tier eastern rear dike was built and tied into repaired old dikes—eight li in all, with varying height and width. Four notch gaps on the south bank of the Aoli flood-relief channel were patched with piles, timber, grass, and earth—forty-seven paces in all.

於是塞黃陵全河，水中及岸上修堤長三十六里百三十六步。其修大堤刺水者二，長十有四里七十步。其西復作大堤刺水者一，長十有二里百三十步。內創築岸上土堤，西北起李八宅西堤，東南至舊河岸，長十里百五十步，顛廣四步，趾廣三之，高丈有五尺。仍築舊河岸至入水堤，長四百三十步，趾廣三十步，顛殺其六之一，接修入水。

The full river course at Huangling was then sealed, with dikes built in the water and on the banks totaling thirty-six li and one hundred thirty-six paces. Two great spike-water dikes were built, fourteen li and seventy paces long. To the west a third great spike-water dike was added, twelve li and one hundred thirty paces long. A new bank dike was built inland from the Libazhai western dike southeast to the old riverbank—ten li and one hundred fifty paces long, four paces wide at the crest, three times that at the toe, and one zhang five chi high. The old riverbank was extended to the in-water dike for four hundred thirty paces, thirty paces wide at the toe, the crest tapered by one-sixth, and the structure carried down into the water.

兩岸掃堤並行。作西掃者夏人水工，征自靈武；作東掃者漢人水工，征自近畿。其法以竹絡實以小石，每掃不等，以蒲葦綿腰索徑寸許者從鋪，廣可一二十步，長可二三十步。又以曳掃索徑三寸或四寸、長二百餘尺者衡鋪之。相間復以竹葦麻釭大繂，長三百尺者為管心索，就系綿腰索之端於其上，以草數千束，多至萬餘，勻布厚鋪於綿腰索之上，袴而納之，丁夫數千，以足蹈實，推卷稍高，即以水工二人立其上，而號於眾，眾聲力舉，用小大推梯，推卷成掃，高下長短不等，大者高二丈，小者不下丈餘。又用大索或互為腰索，轉致河濱，選健丁操管心索，順掃臺立踏，或掛之臺中鐵貓大橛之上，以漸縋之下水。掃後掘地為渠，陷管心索渠中，以散草厚覆，築之以土，其上復以土牛、雜草、小掃梢土，多寡厚薄，先後隨宜。修疊為掃臺，務使牽制上下，縝密堅壯，互為掎角，掃不動搖。日力不足，火以繼之。積累既畢，復施前法，卷掃以壓先下之掃，量水淺深，制掃厚薄，疊之多至四掃而止。兩掃之間置竹絡，高二丈或三丈，圍四丈五尺，實以小石、土牛。既滿，系以竹纜，其兩旁並掃，密下大樁，就以竹絡上大竹腰索系於樁上。東西兩掃及其中竹絡之上，以草土等物築為掃臺，約長五十步或百步，再下掃，即以竹索或麻索長八百尺或五百尺者一二，雜廁其餘管心索之間，俟掃入水之後，其餘管心索如前珣掛，隨以管心長索，遠置五七十步之外，或鐵貓，或大樁，曳而系之，通管束累日所下之掃，再以草土等物通修成堤，又以龍尾大掃密掛於護堤大樁，分析水勢。其堤長二百七十步，北廣四十二步，中廣五十五步，南廣四十二步，自顛至趾，通高三丈八尺。

Fascine revetments were built on both banks simultaneously. The western fascines were built by Tangut water engineers drafted from Lingwu; the eastern fascines by Han water engineers drafted from the capital region. The method used bamboo cages packed with small stones. Each fascine varied in size. Rush-and-reed waist ropes about an inch thick were laid lengthwise; a fascine might span ten to twenty paces in width and twenty to thirty in length. Drag ropes three or four inches thick and over two hundred chi long were laid across them. Between the layers workers laid great cables of bamboo, reed, and hemp three hundred chi long as core ropes, tying the rush waist ropes to them. Thousands of grass bundles—sometimes more than ten thousand—were spread thick and even across the waist ropes, then folded and packed in. Thousands of laborers stamped them firm with their feet. As each roll grew higher, two water engineers stood atop and called the rhythm; the crowd answered in unison and drove the fascine forward with pushing ladders large and small until it took shape. Finished fascines varied in height and length—the largest standing two zhang high, the smallest still over one zhang. Heavy ropes served as waist lines to haul the fascines to the riverbank. Strong laborers manned the core ropes, walking the fascine platform or hitching the load to iron anchors and great stakes set in the platform, then lowering it gradually into the water. After placing a fascine, workers dug a trench, laid the core rope in it, covered it thickly with loose grass, and piled earth on top, then added earth clods, mixed vegetation, small fascine brush, and more earth—amount and thickness adjusted as needed. They built this up into a fascine platform, anchoring it above and below until it was dense, solid, and mutually braced like corner supports so the fascine would not shift. When daylight failed, they worked by torchlight. When one layer was complete they repeated the process, rolling new fascines to weight those already in the water, adjusting thickness to the depth, and stacking as many as four layers. Between fascine layers they set bamboo cages two or three zhang high and four zhang five chi around, packed with small stones and earth clods. Once filled, the cages were lashed with bamboo cables. Great stakes were driven densely on both sides beside the fascines, and the large bamboo waist ropes atop the cages were tied to them. On the eastern and western fascines and the cages between them, workers built a platform of grass and earth some fifty or one hundred paces long. Before lowering the next fascine they wove one or two bamboo or hemp ropes five hundred to eight hundred chi long among the remaining core lines. After the fascine sank, the spare core ropes were suspended as before; long core lines were run fifty or seventy paces back to iron anchors or great stakes, hauled taut, and used to bind together all fascines placed over successive days. Grass and earth were then built up into a continuous dike, and great dragon-tail fascines were hung densely from the protective stakes to break the current. This dike ran two hundred seventy paces long—forty-two paces wide on the north face, fifty-five in the middle, forty-two on the south—and stood three zhang eight chi from crest to toe.

其截河大堤，高廣不等，長十有九里百七十七步。其在黃陵北岸者，長十里四十一步。築岸上土堤，西北起東西故堤，東南至河口，長七里九十七步，顛廣六步，趾倍之而強二步，高丈有五尺，接修入水。施土牛、小掃梢草雜土，多寡厚薄隨宜修疊，及下竹絡，安大樁，系龍尾掃，如前兩堤法。唯修疊掃臺，增用白闌小石。並掃上及前幾修掃堤一，長百餘步，直抵龍口。稍北，欄頭三掃並行，掃大堤廣與刺水二堤不同，通前列四掃，間以竹絡，成一大堤，長二百八十步，北廣百一十步，其顛至水面高丈有五尺，水面至澤腹高二丈五尺，通高三丈五尺；中流廣八十步，其顛至水面高丈有五尺，水面至澤腹高五丈五尺，通高七丈。並創築縷水橫堤一，東起北截河大堤，西抵西刺水大堤。又一堤東起中刺水大堤，西抵西刺水大堤，通長二里四十二步，亦顛廣四步，趾三之，高丈有二尺。修黃陵南岸，長九里百六十步，內創岸土堤，東北起新補白茅故堤，西南至舊河口，高廣不等，長八里二百五十步。

The great river-cutting dike, varying in height and width, extended nineteen li and one hundred seventy-seven paces. The section on the north bank at Huangling ran ten li and forty-one paces. A bank dike was built from the old east-west dike northwest to the river mouth southeast—seven li and ninety-seven paces long, six paces wide at the crest, twice that plus two at the toe, one zhang five chi high, and carried down into the water. Earth clods, small fascines, grass, and mixed earth were layered as needed; bamboo cages were set, great stakes driven, and dragon-tail fascines tied off—by the same method used on the earlier dikes. Only in building the fascine platform were additional white limestone pebbles used. Parallel fascines above and the earlier fascine dike extended more than one hundred paces straight to the dragon mouth. Farther north, three railing-head fascines were laid in parallel. The great fascine dike was wider than the two spike-water dikes. Four fascines were set in a row with bamboo cages between, forming one great structure two hundred eighty paces long and one hundred ten paces wide on the north face—one zhang five chi from crest to waterline, two zhang five chi from waterline to the marsh bottom, three zhang five chi in all; the midstream section eighty paces wide stood one zhang five chi above the water, five zhang five chi from waterline to marsh bottom—seven zhang in total height. A thread-water transverse dike was also built, running east from the northern river-cutting dike to the western spike-water dike. Another dike ran from the central spike-water dike east to the western spike-water dike west—two li and forty-two paces long, four paces wide at the crest, three times that at the toe, and one zhang two chi high. The south bank at Huangling was repaired for nine li and one hundred sixty paces. A new bank dike was built northeast from the patched Baimao old dike southwest to the old river mouth—eight li and two hundred fifty paces long, with varying height and width.

乃入水作石船大堤，蓋由是秋八月二十九日乙巳道故河流，先所修北岸西中刺水及截河三堤猶短，約水尚少，力未足恃。決河勢大，南北廣四百餘步，中流深三丈餘，益以秋漲，水多故河十之八。兩河爭流，近故河口，水刷岸北行，洄漩湍激，難以下掃。且掃行或遲，恐水盡湧入決河，因淤故河，前功遂隳。魯乃精思障水入故河之方，以九月七日癸丑，逆流排大船二十七艘，前後連以大桅或長樁，用大麻索、竹縆絞縛，綴為方舟。又用大麻索、竹縆用船身繳繞上下，令牢不可破，乃以鐵貓於上流垂之水中。又以竹縆絕長七八百尺者，系兩岸大橛上，每縆或垂二舟或三舟，使不得下，船腹略鋪散草，滿貯小石，以合子板釘合之，復以掃密布合子板上，或二重，或三重，以大麻索縛之急，復縛橫木三道於頭桅，皆以索維之，用竹編笆，夾以草石，立之桅前，約長丈餘，名曰水簾桅。復以木榰拄，使簾不偃仆，然後選水工便捷者，每船各二人，執斧鑿，立船首尾，岸上搥鼓為號，鼓鳴，一時齊鑿，須臾舟穴，水入，舟沈，遏決河。水怒溢，故河水暴增，即重樹水簾，令後復布小掃土牛白闌長梢，雜以草土等物，隨以填垛以繼之。石船下詣實地，出水基趾漸高，復卷大掃以壓之。前船勢略定，尋用前法，沈余船以竟後功。昏曉百刻，役夫分番甚勞，無少間斷。船堤之後，草掃三道並舉，中置竹絡盛石，並掃置樁，系纜四掃及絡，一如修北截水堤之法。第以中流水深數丈，用物之多，施功之大，數倍他堤。船堤距北岸才四五十步，勢迫東河，流峻若自天降，深淺叵測。於是先卷下大掃約高二丈者，或四或五，始出水面。修至河口一二十步，用工尤艱。薄龍口，喧豗猛疾，勢撼掃基，陷裂欹傾，俄遠故所，觀者股弁，眾議騰沸，以為難合，然勢不容已。魯神色不動，機解捷出，進官吏工徒十餘萬人，日加獎諭，辭旨懇至，眾皆感激赴功。十一月十一日丁巳，龍口遂合，決河絕流，故道復通。又於堤前通卷欄頭掃各一道，多者或三或四，前掃出水，管心大索系前掃，垂後闌頭掃之後，後掃管心大索亦系小掃，垂前闌頭掃之前，後先羈縻，以錮其勢。又於所交索上及兩掃之間，壓以小石白闌土牛，草土相半，厚薄多寡，相勢措置。

Workers then built a stone-ship dike in the water, because on the twenty-ninth day of the eighth month—the day yisi—the old channel was opened. The three dikes already built on the north bank were still too low to hold back much water, and could not yet be trusted to stand. The breach current was immense—over four hundred paces wide and more than three zhang deep at midstream. With the autumn flood swell, eight-tenths of the flow still ran through the old channel. The two currents fought for the channel. Near the old river mouth the water scoured north along the bank in violent eddies, making it nearly impossible to lower fascines. If fascine work lagged, the entire flow might pour into the breach and silt up the old channel, undoing everything accomplished so far. Jia Lu devised a method to force the water back into the old channel. On the seventh day of the ninth month—the day guichou—he arrayed twenty-seven large boats against the current, lashed bow to stern with great masts or long stakes using hemp rope and bamboo cable to form a floating barrier. More hemp rope and bamboo cable were wound around the hulls above and below until the assembly was unbreakable, then iron anchors were dropped from upstream into the water. Bamboo cables seven or eight hundred chi long were tied to great stakes on both banks, each cable holding two or three boats in place against the current. The hulls were lined with loose grass and packed with small stones, then sealed with nailed boards. Fascines were laid on the boards in two or three layers and bound tight with hemp rope. Three crossbeams were lashed to each bow mast. Bamboo mat fences packed with grass and stone, about one zhang long, were set before the masts as water-curtain screens. Wooden braces were set so the water-curtain screens would not collapse. Nimble water workers were chosen—two per boat—with axes and chisels at bow and stern. Drums on the bank signaled the moment; at a single beat all chiseled together. Within moments the hulls were holed, the boats sank, and the breach was sealed. The water roared and overflowed, swelling the old channel. Workers rebuilt the water-curtain screens and layered small fascines, earth clods, white limestone, and long brush mixed with grass and earth, filling embankments in succession. As the stone ships settled onto solid ground and their foundations rose above the water, workers rolled great fascines atop them for added weight. Once the first boats had stabilized the current, Jia Lu used the same method to sink the rest and finish the closure. Day and night through every watch, laborers worked in relays without a moment's pause. Behind the boat dike, three layers of grass fascines were built with stone-filled bamboo cages between them, stakes driven alongside, and cables binding all four fascines and cages—by the same method used on the northern river-cutting dike. Midstream the water ran several zhang deep, requiring far more materials and labor than any other section of dike. The boat dike stood only forty or fifty paces from the north bank, pressed by the eastern current rushing down like a fall from heaven, its depth impossible to gauge. Workers first rolled down great fascines about two zhang high—four or five of them—before any crest broke the surface. The last ten or twenty paces to the river mouth required the most grueling labor of all. Near the dragon mouth the current roared so violently it shook the fascine foundation, cracking and tilting it from its position. Onlookers trembled; many declared the gap could never be closed—yet there was no turning back. Jia Lu's composure never wavered. He devised solution after solution and daily exhorted the more than one hundred thousand officials and laborers under his command with such earnest encouragement that all threw themselves gratefully into the work. On the eleventh day of the eleventh month—the day dingsi—the dragon mouth closed, the breach ceased to flow, and the old channel was open once more. Before the dike workers rolled railing-head fascines—one course, sometimes three or four. The forward fascine broke the surface; its core rope was lashed forward and the rear fascine's core rope lashed back, front and rear tethered together to pin the current in place. On the crossing ropes and between fascine layers they packed small stones, white limestone, and earth clods mixed with grass and earth, adjusting thickness to the force of the current.

掃堤之後，自南岸復修一堤，抵已閉之龍口，長二百七十步。船堤四道成堤，用農家場圃之具曰轆軸者，穴石立木如比櫛，珣前掃之旁，每步置一轆軸，以橫木貫其後，又穴石，以徑二寸余麻索貫之，系橫木上，密掛龍尾大掃，使夏秋潦水、冬春淩筼，不得肆力於岸。此堤接北岸截河大堤，長二百七十步，南廣百二十步，顛至水面高丈有七尺，水面至澤腹高四丈二尺；中流廣八十步，顛至水面高丈有五尺，水面至澤腹高五丈五尺；通高七丈。仍治南岸護堤掃一道，通長百三十步，南岸護岸馬頭掃三道，通長九十五步。修築北岸堤防，高廣不等，通長二百五十四里七十一步。白茅河口至板城，補築舊堤，長二十五里二百八十五步。曹州板城至英賢村等處，高廣不等，長一百三十三里二百步。梢岡至碭山縣，增培舊堤，長八十五里二十步。歸德府哈只口至徐州路三百餘里，修完缺口一百七處，高廣不等，積修計三里二百五十六步。亦思剌店縷水月堤，高廣不等，長六里三十步。

After the fascine dike, a further dike was built from the south bank to the closed dragon mouth, two hundred seventy paces long. Where the four boat-dike sections formed a continuous embankment, workers used farm windlasses: stone sockets and wooden teeth set like a comb beside each forward fascine, one windlass every pace, crossbeams threaded through, and two-inch hemp rope lashed above to hang great dragon-tail fascines densely, so summer floods and winter ice could not assault the bank. This dike connected to the north-bank river-cutting dike, two hundred seventy paces long and one hundred twenty paces wide on the south face—one zhang seven chi from crest to waterline, four zhang two chi from waterline to marsh bottom; the midstream section eighty paces wide stood one zhang five chi above the water and five zhang five chi from waterline to marsh bottom; seven zhang in total height. Workers also built a south-bank protective fascine one hundred thirty paces long and three horse-head fascines along the south bank totaling ninety-five paces. North-bank dikes were repaired and built along two hundred fifty-four li and seventy-one paces, varying in height and width. From the Baimao river mouth to Bancheng, old dikes were patched for twenty-five li and two hundred eighty-five paces. From Caozhou's Bancheng to Yingxian Village and beyond, dikes of varying dimensions extended one hundred thirty-three li and two hundred paces. From Shaogang to Dangshan County, existing dikes were raised and strengthened for eighty-five li and twenty paces. From Guide Prefecture's Hazhi Mouth to Xuzhou Circuit—over three hundred li—one hundred seven breach gaps were closed, the cumulative new work totaling three li and two hundred fifty-six paces. A thread-water moon dike at Yisila Shop ran six li and thirty paces, varying in height and width.

其用物之凡，樁木大者二萬七千，榆柳雜梢六十六萬六千，帶梢連根株者三千六百，槁稭蒲葦雜草以束計者七百三十三萬五千有奇，竹竿六十二萬五千，葦席十有七萬二千，小石二千艘，繩索小大不等五萬七千，所沈大船百有二十，鐵纜三十有二，鐵貓三百三十有四，竹篾以斤計者十有五萬，垂石三千塊，鐵鉆萬四千二百有奇，大釘三萬三千二百三十有二。其餘若木龍、蠶椽木、麥稭、扶樁、鐵叉、鐵吊、枝麻、搭火鉤、汲水、貯水等具皆有成數。官吏俸給，軍民衣糧工錢，醫藥、祭祀、賑恤、驛置馬乘及運竹木、沈船、渡船、下樁等工，鐵、石、竹、木、繩索等匠傭貲，兼以和買民地為河，並應用雜物等價，通計中統鈔百八十四萬五千六百三十六錠有奇。

Materials consumed in total: twenty-seven thousand large piles; six hundred sixty-six thousand bundles of elm and willow brush; three thousand six hundred with roots attached; seven million three hundred thirty-five thousand bundles of straw, reed, and grass; six hundred twenty-five thousand bamboo poles; one hundred seventy-two thousand reed mats; two thousand boatloads of small stone; fifty-seven thousand ropes of all sizes; one hundred twenty large boats sunk; thirty-two iron cables; three hundred thirty-four iron anchors; fifteen thousand jin of bamboo splints; three thousand suspended stone blocks; fourteen thousand two hundred iron drills; thirty-three thousand two hundred thirty-two large nails. Every other implement—wooden dragons, silkworm-rafter timber, wheat straw, support stakes, iron forks, hoists, branch hemp, fire-hooks, water-drawing and storage gear—was accounted for in fixed quantities. Official salaries, soldiers' and civilians' provisions and wages, medicine, sacrifices, relief, relay transport, hauling timber, sinking boats, ferries, pile-driving, and wages for ironworkers, stonemasons, carpenters, and rope-makers, plus land purchased from civilians for the river and all miscellaneous costs, totaled one million eight hundred forty-five thousand six hundred thirty-six ding and a fraction in Zhongtong paper notes.

魯嘗有言：「水工之功，視土工之功為難；中流之功，視河濱之功為難；決河口視中流又難；北岸之功視南岸為難。用物之效，草雖至柔，柔能狎水，水漬之生泥，泥與草並，力重如碇。然維持夾輔，纜索之功實多。」蓋由魯習知河事，故其功之所就如此。

Jia Lu once observed: 'Water engineering is harder than earthworks; midstream work is harder than bank work; and work at the breach mouth is harder still than midstream; while work on the north bank is harder than on the south. Among materials, grass is softest, yet softness tames water; soaked in water it becomes mud, and mud mixed with grass weighs like an anchor. Yet for holding everything together, ropes and cables do the greater part of the work.' This was the measure of what Jia Lu accomplished—because he truly understood river work.

玄之言曰：「是役也，朝廷不惜重費，不吝高爵，為民辟害。脫脫能體上意，不憚焦勞，不恤浮議，為國拯民。魯能竭其心思智計之巧，乘其精神膽氣之壯，不惜劬瘁，不畏譏評，以報君相知人之明。宜悉書之，使職史氏者有所考證也。」

Ouyang Xuan wrote: 'In this project the court spared no expense and granted the highest honors, all to spare the people from flood disaster. Toghto embodied the emperor's will, heedless of exhaustion and public criticism, to save the realm and its people. Jia Lu poured out every resource of mind and courage, shrank from no toil and no ridicule, to repay the emperor's trust in recognizing talent. All of this should be recorded fully, that future historians may have evidence to consult.'

先是歲庚寅，河南北童謠云：「石人一隻眼，挑動黃河天下反。」及魯治河，果於黃陵岡得石人一眼，而汝、潁之妖寇乘時而起。議者往往以謂天下之亂，皆由賈魯治河之役，勞民動眾之所致。殊不知元之所以亡者，實基於上下因循，狃於宴安之習，紀綱廢弛，風俗偷薄，其致亂之階，非一朝一夕之故，所由來久矣。不此之察，乃獨歸咎於是役，是徒以成敗論事，非通論也。設使賈魯不興是役，天下之亂，詎無從而起乎？今故具錄玄所記，庶來者得以詳焉。

In the gengyin year a children's rhyme ran through the Yellow River region: 'A stone man with one eye—stir the Yellow River and the realm will rise in revolt.' When Jia Lu undertook the river project, workers indeed unearthed a one-eyed stone figure at Huangling Hillock, even as rebel armies rose in the Ru and Ying regions. Critics often blamed the fall of the dynasty on Jia Lu's river project, claiming that mobilizing the masses had brought down the state. They failed to see that the Yuan's collapse had far deeper roots: decades of complacency at court, lax discipline, and moral decay—the path to chaos had been long in the making. To ignore all that and blame this project alone is to judge by success or failure, not by reason. Had Jia Lu never undertaken the project, would rebellion not have erupted anyway? We therefore record Ouyang Xuan's account in full, that posterity may understand the project in detail.

○蜀堰

○ Shu Irrigation Works

江水出蜀西南僥外，東至於岷山，而禹導之。秦昭王時，蜀太守李冰鑿離堆，分其江以灌川蜀，民用以饒。歷千數百年，所過沖薄蕩嚙，又大為民患。有司以故事，歲治堤防，凡一百三十有三所，役兵民多者萬餘人，少者千人，其下猶數百人。役凡七十日，不及七十日，雖事治，不得休息。不役者，日出三緡為庸錢。由是富者屈於貲，貧者屈於力，上下交病，會其費，歲不下七萬緡。大抵出於民者，十九藏於吏，而利之所及，不足以償其費矣。

The Yangtze rises in the far southwest of Shu, flows east to Mount Min, and Yu the Great channeled it there. Under King Zhaoxiang of Qin, Shu governor Li Bing cut the Li Heap, split the river to irrigate the Chengdu Plain, and the people prospered. Over the centuries the current scoured and undercut its banks until the river again became a grave affliction. By custom officials repaired dikes at one hundred thirty-three locations each year, drafting up to ten thousand soldiers and civilians, or as few as several hundred. Corvée lasted seventy days; even after work was finished, laborers could not rest until the full term was served. Those not drafted paid three strings of cash per day in lieu of labor. The rich were crushed by fees, the poor by labor; everyone suffered alike. Annual costs ran to at least seventy thousand strings. Of what the people paid, nineteen parts in twenty lined officials' pockets, while the benefit they received scarcely repaid the cost.

元統二年，僉四川肅政廉訪司事吉當普巡行周視，得要害之處三十有二，余悉罷之。召灌州判官張弘，計曰：「若甃之以石，則歲役可罷，民力可蘇矣。」弘曰：「公慮及此，生民之福，國家之幸，萬世之利也。」弘遂出私錢，試為小堰，堰成，水暴漲而堰不動。乃具文書，會行省及蒙古軍七翼之長、郡縣守宰，下及鄉里之老，各陳利害，咸以為便。復禱於冰祠，卜之吉。於是征工發徒，以仍改至元元年十有一月朔日，肇事於都江堰，即禹鑿之處，分水之源也。鹽井關限其西北，水西關據其西南，江南北皆東行。北舊無江，冰鑿以辟沫水之害，中為都江堰，少東為大、小釣魚，又東跨二江為石門，以節北江之水，又東為利民臺，臺之東南為侍郎、楊柳二堰，其水自離堆分流入於南江。

In Yuantong 2 Jidangpu of the Sichuan surveillance commission toured the works, identified thirty-two critical sites, and abolished the rest. He summoned Guanzhou assistant magistrate Zhang Hong and said: 'If we rebuild the works in stone, annual corvée can end and the people can recover.' Zhang Hong replied: 'Your foresight is the people's blessing, the state's fortune, and a benefit for ten thousand generations.' Zhang Hong spent his own funds to build a trial weir; when floodwaters surged, the structure held firm. He drafted formal proposals and convened provincial officials, commanders of seven Mongol garrison wings, magistrates, and village elders; all agreed the plan was sound. They prayed at Li Bing's shrine and received an auspicious divination. Labor was then mobilized. On the first day of the eleventh month of Zhiyuan 1 work began at Dujiangyan—the place Yu cut the river, source of the water division. Yanjing Pass lay to the northwest, Shuixi Pass to the southwest; both branches of the divided river ran east. Northward there had been no channel until Bing cut one to divert the Mo River. Dujiangyan stood at the center; slightly east were Great and Small Diaoyu; farther east Stone Gate spanned both rivers to regulate the north branch; farther east Limin Terrace, southeast of which lay the Shilang and Yangliu weirs, whose waters from the Li Heap fed the south river.

南江東至鹿角，又東至金馬口，又東道大安橋，入於成都，俗稱大皂江，江之正源也。北江少東為虎頭山，為鬥雞臺。臺有水則，以尺畫之，凡十有一。水及其九，其民喜，過則憂，沒其則則困。又書「深淘灘，高作堰」六字其旁，為治水之法，皆冰所為也。又東為離堆，又東過淩虛、步雲二橋，又東至三石洞，釃為二渠。其一自上馬騎東流，過郫，入於成都，古謂之內江，今府江是也；其一自三石洞北流，過將軍橋，又北過四石洞，折而東流，過新繁，入於成都，古謂之外江。此冰所穿二江也。

The south river ran east to Lujiao, then to Jinma Mouth, then past Da'an Bridge into Chengdu—the Great Zaojiang, main stream of the system. The north river ran slightly east to Tiger Head Mountain—the Cockfight Terrace. The terrace bore a water gauge marked in eleven chi gradations. When the water reached the ninth mark the people rejoiced; above it they grew anxious; at flood level they despaired. Beside it Bing had inscribed six characters: 'Deeply dredge the shoals, build the weir high'—his fundamental rule for water control. Farther east lay the Li Heap, then the Lingxu and Buyun bridges, then Three Stone Cave where the river split in two. One branch ran east from Shangmaqi through Pi into Chengdu—the ancient Inner River, today's Fu River; the other flowed north from Three Stone Cave past General Bridge and Four Stone Cave, then turned east through Xinfan into Chengdu—the ancient Outer River. These were the two channels Li Bing had cut.

南江自利民臺有支流，東南出萬工堰，又東為駱駝，又東為碓口，繞青城而東，鹿角之北涯，有渠曰馬壩，東流至成都，入於南江。渠東行二十餘里，水決其南涯四十有九，每歲疲民力以塞之。乃自其北涯鑿二渠，與楊柳渠合，東行數十里，復與馬壩渠會，而渠成安流。自金馬口之西鑿二渠，合金馬渠，東南入於新津江，罷藍澱、黃水、千金、白水、新興至三利十二堰。

From Limin Terrace a branch ran southeast through Wangong Weir, east as Luotuo, then Duikou, circling Qingcheng. North of Lujiao the Maba channel ran east to Chengdu and rejoined the south river. That channel ran eastward over twenty li, its south bank breached in forty-nine places—every year exhausting the people to plug the breaks. Workers cut two channels from the north bank into the Yangliu channel, running east several tens of li to rejoin Maba, and the whole system ran smoothly. West of Jinma Mouth two more channels were cut into the Jinma channel and southeast to the Xinjin River, eliminating twelve weirs from Landian, Huangshui, Qianjin, Baishui, Xinxing through Sanli.

北江三石洞之東為外應、顏上、五斗諸堰，外應、顏上之水皆東北流，入於外江。五斗之水，南入馬壩渠，皆內江之支流也。外江東至崇寧，亦為萬工堰。堰之支流，自北而東，為三十六洞，過清白堰東入於彭、漢之間。而清白堰水潰其南涯，延袤三里餘，有司因潰以為堰。堰輒壞，乃疏其北涯舊渠，直流而東，罷其堰及三十六洞之役。

East of Three Stone Cave on the north river lay the Waiying, Yanshang, and Wudou weirs; Waiying and Yanshang waters ran northeast into the outer river. Wudou water ran south into Maba channel—all inner-river branches. The outer river ran east to Chongning, where it too formed Wangong Weir. Branch channels ran north and east in thirty-six openings, passing east of Qingbai Weir into the Peng-Han basin. Qingbai Weir's south bank had breached for over three li; officials had tried to turn the breach itself into a weir. The weir kept failing, so workers dredged the old north-bank channel straight east, abandoning the weir and the thirty-six openings.

嘉定之青神，有堰曰鴻化，則授成其長吏，應期而功畢。若成都之九里堤，崇寧之萬工堰，彰之堋口、豐潤、千江、石洞、濟民、羅江、馬腳諸堰，工未及施，則召長吏勉諭，使及農隙為之。諸堰都江及利民臺之役最大，侍郎、楊柳、外應、顏上、五斗次之，鹿角、萬工、駱駝、碓口、三利又次之。而都江又居大江中流，故以鐵萬六千斤，鑄為大龜，貫以鐵柱，而鎮其源，然後即工。

At Qingshen in Jiading the Honghua Weir was entrusted to the local magistrate, who finished on schedule. For Chengdu's Nine-li Dike, Chongning's Wangong Weir, and weirs at Bengkou, Fengrun, Qianjiang, Shidong, Jimin, Luojiang, Majiao and elsewhere not yet started, magistrates were urged to finish during the farming slack season. The greatest works were Dujiangyan and Limin Terrace; next Shilang, Yangliu, Waiying, Yanshang, and Wudou; then Lujiao, Wangong, Luotuo, Duikou, and Sanli. Because Dujiangyan sits in midstream, sixteen thousand jin of iron was cast into a great turtle anchored with an iron pillar at the source before construction began.

諸堰皆甃以石，範鐵以關其中，取桐實之油，和石灰，雜麻絲，而搗之使熟，以苴罅漏。岸善崩者，密築江石以護之，上植楊柳，旁種蔓荊，櫛比鱗次，賴以為固，蓋以數百萬計。所至或疏舊渠以導其流，或鑿新渠以殺其勢。遇水之會，則為石門，以時啟閉而泄蓄之，用以節民力而資民利，凡智力所及，無不為也。初，郡縣及兵家共掌都江之政，延祐七年，其兵官奏請獨任郡縣，民不堪其役‖至是復合焉。常歲獲水之利僅數月，堰輒壞，至是，雖緣渠所置碓硙紡績之處以千萬計，四時流轉而無窮。

Every weir was stone-faced with iron frames inside, sealed with a mortar of tung oil, lime, and pounded hemp fiber. Banks prone to collapse were armored with river stone, topped with willows and creeping vines planted in dense rows—millions of plantings in all. Old channels were dredged to guide flow where needed; new channels cut to reduce destructive force. At confluences stone gates were built, opened and closed seasonally to store or release water, sparing labor and enriching the people—nothing within human power was left undone. Originally civil and military authorities jointly managed Dujiangyan; in Yanyou 7 the military petitioned for sole county control, which oppressed the people—now authority was reunified. Formerly irrigation lasted only months before weirs failed; now mills and workshops along the channels numbered in the millions, running year-round without cease.

其始至都江，水深廣莫可測，忽有大洲湧出其西南，方可數里，人得用事其間。入山伐石，崩石已滿，隨取而足。蜀故多雨，自初役至工畢，無雨雪，故力省而功倍，若有相之者。五越月，功告成，而吉當普以監察御史召，省臺上其功，詔揭扌奚斯制文立碑以旌之。

When work began at Dujiangyan the depth was immeasurable—then a great sandbar emerged to the southwest, several li across, giving workers dry ground. Quarrying in the mountains, fallen stone lay everywhere in abundance. Shu is rainy country, yet from start to finish of the project no rain or snow fell—labor was halved and progress doubled, as if heaven assisted. In five months the work was done. Jidangpu was recalled as censor; the provincial administration reported his merit; the court ordered Jie'ansi to compose an inscription and erect a commemorative stele.

是役也，凡石工、金工皆七百人，木工二百五十人，役徒三千九百人，而蒙古軍居其二千。糧為石千有奇，石之材取於山者百萬有奇，石之灰以斤計者六萬有奇，油半之，鐵六萬五千斤，麻五千斤。撮其工之直、物之價，以緡計者四萬九千有奇，皆出於民之庸，而在官之積者，尚余二十萬一千八百緡，責灌守以貸於民，歲取其息，以備祭祀及淘灘修堰之費。仍蠲灌之兵民所常徭役，俾專其力於堰事。

The workforce comprised seven hundred stonemasons, seven hundred metalworkers, two hundred fifty carpenters, and three thousand nine hundred laborers—two thousand of them Mongol soldiers. Grain for the stonework exceeded one thousand shi; mountain stone exceeded one million units; lime sixty thousand jin; oil half that quantity; iron sixty-five thousand jin; hemp five thousand jin. Labor and materials cost forty-nine thousand strings, all from corvée levies on the people. Government stores still held two hundred one thousand eight hundred strings, which the Guanzhou prefect was ordered to lend out at interest to fund sacrifices and annual dredging and repairs. Regular corvée on soldiers and civilians in Guanzhou was also waived so they could devote all their strength to the weirs.

○涇渠

○ Jing Canal

涇渠者，在秦時韓使水工鄭國說秦，鑿涇水，自仲山西抵瓠口為渠，並北山，東註於洛三百餘里以溉田，蓋欲以罷秦之力，使無東伐。秦覺其謀，欲殺之，鄭曰：「臣為韓延數年之命，而為秦建萬世之利。」秦以為然，使迄成之，號鄭渠。漢時有白公者，奏穿渠引涇水，起谷口，入櫟陽，註渭中，袤二百里，溉田四千五百餘頃，因名曰白渠。歷代因之，皆享其利。至宋時，水沖嚙，失其故跡。熙寧間，詔賜常平息錢，助民興作，自仲山旁開鑿石渠，從高瀉水，名豐利渠。

The Jing Canal: in Qin times the state of Han sent the engineer Zheng Guo to persuade Qin to cut a channel from the Jing River at Zhongshan west to Hugu Mouth, running three hundred li east along the northern foothills into the Luo to irrigate farmland—intending to exhaust Qin's strength and forestall eastern campaigns. When Qin uncovered the plot and moved to execute him, Zheng Guo said: 'I have bought Han a few more years of life, yet built benefit for Qin that will last ten thousand generations.' Qin accepted this argument and let him finish the work, naming it the Zheng Canal. In Han times Lord Bai memorialized for a canal drawing Jing water from Gukou through Liyang into the Wei—over two hundred li irrigating more than four thousand five hundred qing—hence the Bai Canal. Successive dynasties maintained it and all reaped its benefits. By the Song period scouring had erased the old course. During the Xining reign the court granted Ever-Normal Granary interest funds to help civilians rebuild; a stone aqueduct was cut beside Zhongshan to carry water from higher ground—the Fengli Canal.

元至元間，立屯田府督治之。大統八年，涇水暴漲，毀堰塞渠，陜西行省命屯田府總管夾谷伯顏帖木兒及涇陽尹王琚疏道之，起涇陽、高陵、三原、櫟陽用水人戶及渭南、櫟陽、涇陽三屯所人夫，共三千餘人興作，水通流如舊。其制編荊為囤，貯之以石，復填以草以土為堰，歲時葺理，未嘗廢止。

Under Yuan Zhiyuan a garrison-farmland office was established to oversee the works. In Dadu 8 the Jing River flooded, destroying the weir and blocking the canal. The Shaanxi Branch Secretariat ordered garrison-farmland director Jiagu Boyan Timur and Jingyang magistrate Wang Ju to dredge it, mobilizing more than three thousand water-user households and garrison laborers from Jingyang, Gaoling, Sanyuan, Liyang, Weinan, and elsewhere until flow was restored. Thorn bins were woven, filled with stone, then packed with grass and earth to form a weir—maintained seasonally without interruption.

○金口河

○ Jinkou River

至正二年正月，中書參議孛羅帖木兒、都水傅佐建言，起自通州南高麗莊，直至西山石峽鐵板開水古金口一百二十餘里，創開新河一道，深五丈，廣二十丈，放西山金口水東流至高麗莊，合御河，接引海運至大都城內輸納。是時，脫脫為中書右丞相，以其言奏而行之。廷臣多言其不可，而左丞許有壬言尤力，脫脫排群議不納，務於必行。有壬因條陳其利害，略曰：

In the first month of Zhizheng 2 counselor Boluotiemuer and Director of Waterworks Fu Zuo proposed opening a new channel from Gaolizhuang south of Tongzhou to the ancient Jinkou at Stone Gorge Iron Plate west of the mountains—over one hundred twenty li, five zhang deep and twenty zhang wide—to divert western mountain water east to Gaolizhuang, join the Imperial Canal, and bring sea transport into the capital. Toghto, then Right Chancellor, endorsed the proposal and ordered it carried out. Most court ministers opposed the plan; Left Chancellor Xu Youren argued most forcefully. Toghto overrode all dissent and insisted on proceeding. Xu Youren then submitted a detailed memorandum on the project's risks, in summary stating:

大德二年，渾河水發為民害，大都路都水監將金口下閉閘板。五年間，渾河水勢浩大，郭太史恐沖沒田薛二村、南北二城，又將金口已上河身，用砂石雜土盡行堵閉。至順元年，因行都水監郭道壽言，金口引水過京城至通州，其利無窮，工部官並河道提舉司、大都路及合屬官員耆老等相視議擬，水由二城中間窒礙。又盧溝河自橋至合流處，自來未嘗有漁舟上下，此乃不可行船之明驗也。且通州去京城四十里，盧溝止二十里，此時若可行船，當時何不於盧溝立馬頭，百事近便，卻於四十里外通州為之？又西山水勢高峻，亡金時，在都城之北流入郊野，縱有沖決，為害亦輕。今則在都城西南，與昔不同。此水性本湍急，若加以夏秋霖潦漲溢，則不敢必其無虞，宗廟社稷之所在，豈容僥幸於萬一？若一時成功，亦不能保其永無沖決之患。且亡金時此河未必通行，今所有河道遺跡，安知非作而復輟之地乎？又地形高下不同，若不作閘，必致走水淺澀，若作閘以節之，則沙泥渾濁，必致淤塞，每年每月專人挑洗，蓋無窮盡之時也。且郭太史初作通惠河時，何不用此水，而遠取白浮之水，引入都城，以供閘壩之用？蓋白浮之水澄清，而此水渾濁不可用也。此議方興，傳聞於外，萬口一辭，以為不可。若以為成大功者不謀於眾，人言不足聽，則是商鞅、王安石之法，當今不宜有此。

In Dade 2 the Hun River flooded and harmed the people; the Dadu waterworks directorate closed the sluice boards below Jinkou. Within five years the Hun grew so powerful that Guo Shoujing feared it would wash away the Tian and Xue villages and both city walls; the channel above Jinkou was then entirely sealed with sand, stone, and earth. In Zhishun 1 metropolitan waterworks director Guo Daoshou claimed that drawing Jinkou water through the capital to Tongzhou would yield boundless benefit. After inspection by Ministry of Works officials, the river intendant, Dadu Circuit, and local elders, they found the water blocked between the two city walls. Moreover, from Lugou Bridge to the confluence fishing boats had never navigated the reach—clear proof the route was unnavigable. Tongzhou lies forty li from the capital, Lugou only twenty. If shipping had been feasible, why build wharves at distant Tongzhou rather than convenient Lugou? Western mountain water runs high and steep. Under the defunct Jin it entered the suburbs north of the capital; even when it breached, damage was limited. Now the channel would lie southwest of the capital—a wholly different situation. The current is swift by nature; add summer and autumn floods and disaster is likely. How can one gamble with the ancestral temples and state altars? Even temporary success could not guarantee against future breaches. Moreover, the Jin canal may never have been navigable; existing traces may mark projects begun and abandoned. Terrain varies in elevation: without sluices water runs shallow; with sluices turbid silt blocks the channel, requiring endless monthly dredging. When Guo Shoujing built the Tonghui Canal, why did he draw clear Baiteng water from afar rather than this turbid source? Because Baiteng water is clear and this water is too turbid for sluice use. As debate spread, public opinion united overwhelmingly against the project. To claim great works need not heed public opinion is the logic of Shang Yang and Wang Anshi—unsuited to our age.

議既上，丞相終不從，遂以正月興工，至四月功畢。起閘放金口水，流湍勢急，沙泥壅塞，船不可行，而開挑之際，毀民廬舍墳塋，夫丁死傷甚眾，又費用不貲，卒以無功。繼而御史糾劾建言者，孛羅帖木兒、傅佐俱伏誅。今附載其事於此，用為妄言水利者之戒。

Though Xu Youren's memorial was ignored, work began in the first month and was declared finished by the fourth. When the sluices opened, the torrent silted up immediately; boats could not pass. Excavation destroyed homes and graves; many laborers died. Costs were incalculable—and the project failed utterly. Censors then impeached the proposers; Boluotiemuer and Fu Zuo were both executed. Their story is recorded here as a warning to those who speak rashly of water projects.

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