New Canal Boathead Village North Section Ovie Interactive Map
Aowei interactive map of the Xinqu Zhengguoqu Ruins Conservation Area
The person who initiated the construction of the new canal was named Yuan Baoheng, and the Tongzhi Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty was sent to Zuo Zongtang, the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, because of his outstanding ability, and was mainly responsible for the preparation and supply of materials for Zuo Zongtang's western expedition. Speaking of Yuan Baoheng, few people know him, but most people know Yuan Shikai, and he is Yuan Shikai's uncle. The Qing court sent him to Shaanxi, just after the end of the Qing Dynasty, Shaanxi Guanzhong was the most devastated area in the war at that time, and the county fortresses, cities and villages were particularly badly damaged, especially Jingyang was a ruin, the county seat was burned, and the population was 110,000, most of which were slaughtered (see "Xuantong Reconstruction of Jingyang County"), and some fled to other places. People's livelihood is poor. 150 years later, older people still have word of mouth about the tragic situation of the villagers being slaughtered and poked, and the original burned fort remains can still be seen. The irrigation facilities of the Qing Dynasty were also damaged by the war, the Qing Dynasty Longdong Canal was mainly managed and maintained by the people, the irrigation area was originally not large, only about 80,000 mu, and the irrigation area after the war shrank sharply, at least only more than 20,000 mu.
Yuan Baoheng, who was in charge of the logistics of the Left Army's Western Expedition, felt a heavy responsibility, and after his arrival, he regarded post-war restoration and reconstruction as the primary task, and the "Jingqu Chronicle" records that he carried out the following work: "Yuan Baoheng, the great si nong, tun tian jingshang, planned to restore Guanghui, and opened a new canal; later, he planted piles at Wang Yushikou, resettled barrel trucks, and operated for more than a year, but it has not been fruitful." "Gather the displaced people in Tuntian Jingyang and stabilize social order." The second step is to restore the Guanghui Canal of the Ming Dynasty as its own responsibility. He began to work on water conservancy construction in the eighth year of Tongzhi (the eighth year of Emperor Muzong of the Qing Dynasty, 1869), learned the lesson of Gaoling's order Xu Deliang to open a well canal, and tried it at the mouth of the Guanghui Canal and the Yushi Canal.
Opening a new canal at the mouth of the Guanghui Canal is a dangerous idea, since the Qing Dynasty has taken the rejection of Jing as the primary task, the Jing River is fierce, there are often records of breaking and breaking the stone embankment, and there are often irrigation silt canals, the maintenance of the Longdong Canal Project is very large, and there are many similar contents recorded in the "Xuantong Reconstruction of Jingyang County Chronicle". It is estimated that after thinking about it for a long time, Lord Yuan did not dare to open the dam at the mouth of the Longdong Canal and let the Jing River enter the canal, and the water of the Jing River rose and fell suddenly, which was extremely difficult to control, and it was too dangerous to do so, and it was a catastrophe if it was not done well. The safest way to do this is to use the method of lifting water, so I drilled an eye in the stone at the mouth of the Wang Yushi Canal, erected wooden stakes, and set up water dragons and water wheels to carry water. However, although the idea is good, it is not realistic, water wheels, water dragons, etc. are suitable for irrigation of a small amount of land, and the irrigation scale of tens of thousands of acres for the movement is really tantamount to a cup of water and a salary, and it is half the work, and finally his attempt also failed. At the same time, the construction of the head of the canal excavated a new channel in the lower stream, and the two sections that remained were the remains of that year, and the new canal was completed for a long time that year, and later buried a lot in the process of farmland transformation.
Opposite the ruins of the New Canal
Yuan Baoheng, like Xu Deliang, failed in his efforts. However, it must be noted that the starting point of the two of them is the same, both take Zheng Baiqu as an example, get rid of the limitations of refusing to enter the canal in the middle of the Qing Dynasty, and put Yingjing on the agenda again. It's just that they are in a hurry, and they only consider traditional methods to solve problems, which is obviously out of step with the times. Later generations of researchers said that it was because the feudal society reached a period of decline, the Qing government lacked the pioneering spirit, nor did it have the courage to complete larger and more effective water conservancy projects, so it refused to enter the canal, only using zhangjiashan spring water as an irrigation source, and its irrigation area changed from millions of mu in the Qin Dynasty to more than 100,000 mu in the late Qing Dynasty. Those who hold this theory only see the irrigated land acres, benefits and national strength of the Qing Dynasty, and rarely consider the characteristics of geology, climate and river hydrology. Was the Qing Dynasty's rejection only due to its national strength and pioneering spirit? Obviously wrong, from the Ming to the Qing, from the official to the people has not stopped the efforts to lead the Jing, but the Ming Dynasty opened to the mouth of the Guanghui Canal, the traditional engineering and technical means can be said to be to the extreme, invested huge manpower and material resources, before and after taking up to 17 years, the initial can be watered seven or eight hundred thousand acres, but it was not used for a long time, irrigation area sharply reduced. By the time of the Republic of China, modern technology and engineering were only more than the nullah dams, but only existed for more than thirty years (the dam was built in 1931 and destroyed in 1966) and was washed away. The hydrological characteristics and unique geological conditions of the Jing River exceeded the technical capabilities and means of the Qing Dynasty at that time, so the Shaanxi government of the Qing Dynasty took the second place and used mountain springs for irrigation, which is the real reason why the Longdong Canal "rejected Jing".
If we look at the well canal and the new canal in the history of the diversion, the correct evaluation of him should be: the last attempt to lead the jing with traditional engineering techniques and means. The project was not successful, but it can promote the design and financing of the modern introduction project for future generations.