Sui Shi: Is the excavation of the Grand Canal a merit or a mistake?
preface
A steady stream of rivers rushed from the years, and we watched the scene of the waves lapping on the shore, thinking back to the civilization in Chinese history, the Grand Canal took many years to build the flesh and blood of the people of the Sui Dynasty.
▲Sui Dynasty Emperor stills
cause
After the Sui Dynasty Emperor ascended the throne, the construction of the Grand Canal began.
▲Schematic diagram of the Sui and Tang Dynasties Grand Canal
outcome
After the successful construction of the Grand Canal, the transportation of grain and grass was also much more convenient, so the Sui Emperor decided to requisition Goryeo.
▲Sui and Tang Dynasty Grand Canal
disposal
1. The provocation of Goryeo
Before the Sui Dynasty, China was still divided between the north and the south, but the emergence of Yang Jian ended this situation, the southern and northern dynasties were unified, and the Sui Dynasty was established.
As a result, after the establishment of the Sui Dynasty, Goryeo, who was far away, heard about it and was worried that it would not be attacked by the Sui Dynasty, so Goryeo decided to take the lead in attacking.
After recruiting troops and buying horses, he led his soldiers to attack western Liaoning and launched a first attack on the Sui Dynasty.
Although the Sui Dynasty soon defeated Goryeo and Goryeo submitted to the Sui Dynasty, the Sui Dynasty's monarchs were also well aware that they were only superficially subservient, not truly submissive to the Sui Dynasty.
▲Goguryeo
After the Sui Emperor ascended the throne, he was ambitious, the Sui Emperor decided to conquer Goryeo, the soldiers and horses did not move, and he was still very clear about the matter of grain and grass first, so he decided to take the lead in building the Grand Canal to facilitate the transportation of grain and grass.
After the rear work was done, he began to prepare for the conquest of Goryeo.
The Sui Emperor's foreign policy was that only by conquering could they know their own abilities and the abilities of the Sui Dynasty, and then they would make the surrounding small countries submit to the Sui Dynasty.
The Sui Emperor used the analogy of the sun to indicate that there will only be one sun in the sky, and this sun is the Sui Dynasty, and the Sui Emperor will not allow other countries to be like the sun.
▲Three Marches on Goguryeo
2. Construction of the Grand Canal
Since it was decided to build the Grand Canal, the construction project fell to the Emperor Fuyi, and in 605 AD, the Sui Emperor began to order the excavation of the Grand Canal.
As the chief engineer, the emperor was anxious, because the Grand Canal was such a very important thing, and the emperor entrusted this matter to him, and surely there could be no mistakes.
In order to speed up the process, the Emperor Began to arrest men, but the process did not accelerate, so the imperial court even began to arrest women and let them participate in the construction of the Grand Canal.
The people saw that the imperial court attached so much importance to the project of the Grand Canal, recalled that Qin Shi Huang once built the Great Wall, and worried that they were like the people of the Qin Dynasty, exhausted and died on the construction site, so they did not hesitate to cut off their hands and feet, saying that they were disabled and hiding from the arrest of the government.
The difficulty is not only the construction of the Grand Canal, but also the excavation of the Grand Canal, because the Grand Canal chose to start in Luoyang and end in Shanyang, which connects the Yellow River with Huaishui, and the project costs a lot.
In addition, the construction of the Grand Canal is more anxious now, and the people are also divided into different opinions, some people say that it is because the emperor likes the beauty of Jiangnan, so they are built to facilitate the emperor to go down to Jiangnan.
It is also said that the emperor summoned the forces of the Sui Dynasty, because the Sui Emperor had followed Emperor Wen of Sui on his eastern expedition to the west, so they were more anxious to transport grain and then consolidate the rule of Jiangnan.
Emperor Fuyi even heard of another reason, because the Sui Emperor was a wooden life, and Chang'an belonged to the earth, which was inconsistent with the emperor's eight characters, so the emperor could only go east.
Many theories were filled with the ears of the Emperor Fuyi, but with the excavation of the Grand Canal, many of the theories were left with one, that is, to consolidate the rule and facilitate the transportation of grain and grass in the Sui Dynasty.
▲The terrain of the Grand Canal
3. The construction of the Grand Canal was completed
However, in order to speed up the progress, many people were forcibly recruited to serve as coolies, and the Sui Emperor had the idea of moving the capital, so Yuwen Kai built a new capital in Luoyang, and the Grand Canal also began in Luoyang.
Such a heavy labor force has doubled, and the people are miserable. And the Emperor Fuyi was also very distressed, his work must not be behind Yu Wenkai, otherwise the Emperor would not be able to make a difference, so the Emperor Fuyi decided to divide the construction of the Grand Canal into three stages, using the circulation of the river to facilitate repair.
In this way, the construction of the Grand Canal is much more convenient, and many things are solved, but the people are also a big problem in this regard. In order to facilitate the rapid completion of the Grand Canal, resulting in men and women all going into battle, many people cut off their hands and siblings in order to escape the government.
The people complained about this, but all this was deaf to the Sui Emperor, and in order to satisfy his ambitions, he thought that after conquering Goryeo, he would emulate the princes of Dayu in Huihui.
▲It will be audited
But what the Sui Emperor did not expect was that every penny he spent was not rewarded accordingly, in order to dig the Grand Canal, many people were already full of resentment against the Sui Dynasty, not only that, in order to conquer Goryeo, the emperor began to recruit troops, which made the people resentful of the Sui Emperor more layers.
Officials forced the people to rebel, so many people began to decide to revolt against the oppression of the Sui Emperor, and eventually the Sui Dynasty also died, but the Grand Canal dug by the Sui Emperor brought benefits to future generations.
▲ Grand Canal
brief summary
The construction of the Grand Canal facilitated communication and exchanges between the north and south of China, and also provided conditions for economic development during the Tang and Song dynasties.
【References】
1. The Book of Jin
2. "Xi Du Fu"
3. Old Book of Tang