Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 54: Yongding River Suffering (Part [-])
The new snow has just stopped, the clouds are not yet clear, and the Yongding River in the west of Beijing is still frozen. Under the ice layer, you can see the flowing water, reflecting the changes in the clouds in the sky. The scenery of the northern country is so beautiful.

A team of forty horsemen escorted a luxurious carriage all the way north along the Yongding River. Most of these people were strong and strong, with goose feather steel swords on their waists and Tuomu bows on their backs. When you see a godly steed, you will show off like this. I'm afraid it will be difficult for ordinary officers and soldiers to match.

In the carriage, a young man dressed in a navy blue background with finely embroidered gold silk cloud patterns on his shoulders opened the curtains and looked at the frozen river with a worried expression, not knowing what he was thinking.

"Master Biao, you can no longer walk along the river ahead." A tough man in his thirties rode to the side of the carriage, pointed to the three-way road ahead, and persuaded: "It stands to reason that the one on the far right is The best official road to take is the direction of Zhengbei Changping, but this road is good but not on the way. We are going to Cherry Spring, which is the direction of Shibatan in the west of Beijing. The best way is to go to Huailaima The one in the middle of the post... But if you want to walk all the way along the Yongding River, you can only take the trail on the left. This road is not an official road or a post road. I just left, and now the mountains are covered by heavy snow, so it’s not easy to go, especially the carriage, when the time comes, you and the two little girls may have to get out of the carriage and ride a horse.”

The young master in the car dressed in a dashing suit is none other than Gao Pragmatic.

He was still frowning at the moment, and did not answer the man's words. Instead, he asked: "Zhang Jin, I heard that in the 34th year of Jiajing, when my uncle entered the Imperial Academy as an editor, you guarded him in the capital? Now that's already Almost 15 years?"

The man named Zhang Jin didn't care about the high-practical and unpolite question, he clasped his fists and said, "Master Biao has a good memory."

Gao Wushi pointed to the Yongding River and asked, "What can you tell me about the Yongding River?"

Zhang Jin was slightly taken aback, and said hesitantly: "The villain is stupid, I don't know what aspect of the situation Master Biao wants to know?"

"Hydrology, history, etc., you can talk about it." Gao Wushi sighed, and added: "I originally planned to rely on the Yongding River to transport supplies by water between the capital and other courtyards, but today, it seems a bit taken for granted. Yes...you have been in the capital for many years, and the Cherry Spring Bieyuan is my uncle's place for outings. You must have accompanied my uncle to and from this road, so I want to hear your views on the water transportation of the Yongding River .”

"If the Sanggan River needs to be transported by water, it may be okay in spring and autumn, but it is a bit difficult in winter and summer." Zhang Jin said, and found that he had reached a fork in the road. He still wanted to persuade Gao Wushi not to take the spring path on the left. , so he simply called the convoy to stop temporarily.

Gao Wushi didn't blame him when he saw it, and still sat in the car waiting for him to reply.

Zhang Jin stopped the convoy and arranged a few words casually. Everyone took out some utensils that were immediately in reserve, those who swept the snow, those who plowed the piles, and started to set up three tents.

Zhang Jin himself began to answer Gao Pragmatic's question: "In fact, the name Yongding River is only occasionally used by the government on weekdays. The folks generally call it Sanggan River, Wuding River, Little Yellow River or Hun River."

Gao Wushi smiled and said: "I know the Sanggan River and the Wuding River, and I can guess the reason for the Little Yellow River, but why is it still called the Hun River? Isn't the Hun River in Liaodong?"

Zhang Jindao: "In fact, the reason for calling the Little Yellow River and the Hun River is the same. After the Jin Dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty, the Sanggan River—er, the Yongding River carried sand and soil, and the water damage gradually increased. Especially in spring and summer, the river was turbid. , compared with the Yellow River, so the folks have these two common names."

"Water damage?" Gao Wushi's heart moved.

Gao Yushi was a native of the south before crossing. At that time, the floods in the south were more serious than those in the north. Especially in the years at the turn of the century, he fought against floods and rescued emergencies. Later, he became the secretary of the county party committee not long after he joined the work. Due to the Three Gorges Dam The flood has improved a lot, but he still participated in flood fighting and rescue for several consecutive years.

At that time, in the city where he lived, the municipal party committee and the city government took the lead, and the main leaders divided the areas of responsibility. His county was no exception. The main leaders of the county party committee and the county government also divided the areas of responsibility.He, the first secretary of the county party committee, also followed the secretary to patrol the embankment every day. During the most severe time of the flood peak, he often did not get off the embankment for two or three days and could not close his eyes.Not to mention that the old secretary in his fifties almost confessed to the embankment twice, even he passed out on the embankment once and was dragged down for rescue, but he didn't dare to delay for a minute after waking up and pushed himself away. Nurses, pull out the infusion tube and rush to the levee immediately—people who have not experienced that kind of natural disaster may find it difficult to imagine their mentality: If you say that they are afraid of being dismissed, of course they have this mentality, but On the other hand, I really dare not have an accident, because the responsibility is too great!Once the breach, thousands of families will be destroyed, and it will be destroyed directly in front of your eyes. That kind of huge psychological pressure, as a young cadre who was instilled in his childhood to love the country and the people, he really felt so nervous that he couldn't breathe.Moreover, many of the soldiers who fought on the front line of flood fighting at that time were not even 1 years old. Gao Yushi was in that environment at the time, and he really felt that the work he did was nothing—at least he didn’t have a day Soak in the water for more than ten hours to block the flood with flesh and blood!
Gao Wushi paused for a while, took a deep breath, and asked solemnly: "The water damage of the Yongding River is very serious? To what extent?"

Zhang Jin seemed to recall it for a while, and then suddenly smiled: "Master Biao's performance today is exactly the same as the performance of the master ten years ago. If there is any difference, the master was already in Hanlin at that time... I remember some One time, the master went to Cherry Spring to escape the summer heat during his ten-day vacation, and he told the villain about the river defense of the Yongding River on the way, and the villain generally still remembers it."

Gao Wushi said happily: "That's a good idea, and you can break up with me."

So Zhang Jin began to tell Gao Wushi about the Yongding River defense incident mentioned by Zhang Siwei.

According to Zhang Siwei's investigation, before the Liao Dynasty, the vegetation in the upper reaches of the Yongding River was well preserved, and the amount of sediment in the river was relatively small. Although the flow also had seasonal changes, it was relatively stable overall.In Li Daoyuan's works, the Yongding River has "long and solid banks", and even has the reputation of "Qingquan River".There are few records of floods in the historical documents of that time, and the Yongding River can also carry boats, which is beneficial for shipping.

After the Jin Dynasty, with the improvement of the status of Beijing and the expansion of the construction scale, the forests in the upper reaches of the Yongding River were cut down in large quantities, and the land on both sides of the middle and lower reaches were continuously reclaimed, resulting in gradual aggravation of water and soil erosion, and the color of the river turned black. Calling black is Lu", so it is called "Lugou River".Since then, the river's sediment concentration has continued to increase, and floods have increased. In the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, it was called "Hunhe River", "Little Yellow River" or "Wuding River".After the Yongding River rushed out of Shijingshan in the southwest of Beijing, it entered the plain area with gentle slope and loose soil. Especially critical.With Beijing rising to be the capital and the surrounding states and counties becoming important places in Gyeonggi, ensuring the safety of the Yongding River has become the focus of Gyeonggi's defense.

"Barrier" and "dredging" or "blocking" and "dredging" have always been the two major water control strategies that have been opposed to each other since Dayu in Chinese history, and specific to the Yongding River. Governance has always been biased towards "blocking", that is, building embankments.

Large-scale embankment of the Yongding River began in the Jin Dynasty.During the Dading period, the Lugou River was decided by Xiantongzhai (between today's Shijingshan and Lugou Bridge), and "the imperial edict was issued within three hundred miles of the central capital to block it."In the Yuan Dynasty, the floods of the Yongding River became more and more frequent, and the number of embankment and bank reinforcement projects between Shijingshan and Lugou Bridge continued to increase.From Shizu to the Yuan Dynasty to the end of the Yuan Dynasty, records such as "repairing the stone path (Jing) mountain embankment on the upper flow of Lugou" and "the Hunhe River was destroyed, and thousands of soldiers and civilians were sent to block it" were frequently seen in the "Yuan History".Since this period, Beijing City has turned from dependence on Yongding River to defense.

Since then, the Great Ming established the Dingding, especially after Cheng Zu moved the capital to Beijing, because the threat of the Yongding River to Beijing and its surrounding areas has not weakened, the Hun River "flows down the front of the Western Mountains, flooding and harming crops, closing the land and disease, and the local people are in a hurry." River flooding has become a major hazard in the capital region and a top priority for local officials.In view of this, the number of dike repairs continued to increase, and the length of the dike extended from the Marco Polo Bridge to both sides of the downstream, and the scale and grade were also greatly improved.

In the 16th year of Hongwu, "the Sanggan River was dredged, from Gu'an to Gaojiazhuang (now Bazhou) for 35 miles, the West Branch River of Bazhou was 500 miles, and the South Branch River was 65 miles".In July of the first year of Zhengtong, Li Yong, the left servant of the Ministry of Industry, "played 41 craftsmen and [-] servants" to build embankments at Langwokou below Lugou Bridge. The pile of stones is heavy, the cultivation is thicker, and it is as wide as two feet and three feet. It extends for a hundred and sixty-five feet, and it looks stronger in the past. After it is completed, it is named Gu'an embankment. Twenty families are guarded."In the [-]st year of Jiajing, "Lei Li, the Shangshu, was ordered to repair the banks of the Lugou River."All this can prove in reverse that the safety of Beijing City has further depended on the restraint of the embankment on the water of Yongding River.

(End of this chapter)