Master Yuan, start!

This is not just talk, it has been fully verified in the Qing Dynasty and the Qing Gang.

Just like in the fourth year of Chongzhen, when Chongzhen abolished the post stations, he would never have thought that the one who destroyed the Ming Dynasty in the 4th year of Chongzhen was an unemployed postman 16 years ago.

When the Qing Dynasty announced the abolition of the Grand Canal in 1901, it certainly would not have imagined that the revolutionaries who overthrew it in 1911 would mostly come from the Green Gang, that is, the children of laid-off grain transport workers.

Zhang Jian came from a business background and understood the importance of the Grand Canal, so he gave another advice:

"Weiting, taking away someone's wealth is like killing their parents. Don't say you're the president, even if you're the emperor, you can't do that.

Throughout the dynasties, the issue of grain transport has been a matter that could shake the nation's status quo, and it must never be dealt with lightly."

In fact, even if Zhang Jian did not object, Yuan Shikai knew that the issue of grain transport was of great importance.

But sometimes, construction means destroying and then rebuilding. If we always take care of these bottles and jars, when will the economy rise?

The ships currently sailing on the shores of the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea are standard steamships produced by the Incheon Shipyard, powered by steam and with a carrying capacity of 2100 tons.

2100 tons is far from the 8000-ton and -ton cargo ships in Europe.

What was the average carrying capacity of the grain ships in the Qing Dynasty?

The official regulation is 1200 shi, but in reality it is mostly 1500 shi.

To put it in perspective, 1500 shi is approximately equal to 4.5 tons.

45 tons is too little.

The trains currently running outside the Great Wall use the British 4-2 locomotive, which has a curb weight of 90 tons and can haul 200 tons of cargo.

Water transportation is indeed better than rail transportation, but that depends on the era.

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At the end of the 19th century, before -ton cargo ships became the mainstream mode of water transportation, rail transportation was the undisputed king.

The United States relied on the transcontinental railway to conquer India and develop the West, and Britain relied on the railway to control India.

What’s more crucial is that if the grain boats did not require manpower, they could just go north along the river.

But along the canal, which stretches for thousands of miles, there are few places where trackers are not needed.

If the manpower consumption is taken into account, the water transportation value of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal will be greatly reduced.

Therefore, the backward canal transportation had to be changed and replaced!

Chapter 360: When will the Grand Canal be resumed?

"Chief Instructor, the ship has docked!"

Yuan Xiangcheng wanted to continue expressing his thoughts.

However, when he heard Ming Ye, who was standing guard at the bow, calling out, he clapped his hands and said in a casual tone, "Brother Ji Zhi, Brother Ji Dao, don't stay bored in the cabin. Come get off the boat and take a look at the scenery of this century-old Grand Canal."

In the cabin, Zhang Jian and Yan Fu looked at each other, then stood up and prepared to leave the boat.

The ship has docked.

But it is not relying on the bank of the Yangtze River.

When Yuan Shikai went south to Wuchang this time, he did not choose to travel by land from Beijing, nor did he choose to board a ship by sea from Tianjin.

He took the authentic Grand Canal shipping route.

The history of the canal can be traced back to the Han Canal dug by King Fuchai of Wu in the late Spring and Autumn Period. It was later expanded on a large scale twice during the Sui and Yuan dynasties, and was formed by dredging and connecting natural river channels.

The entire route is divided into Tonghui River, North Canal, South Canal, Lu Canal, Middle Canal and Li Canal.

Board a ship at the Tongzhou Canal Wharf outside Beijing, head east to Tianjin, then take a boat south from Tianjin to Yangzhou on the Yangtze River, the southern end of the Grand Canal.

However, the Grand Canal in 1897 was no longer the canal that could be used unimpeded.

Liaocheng, Linqing, Shandong, is the last navigable place in the northern section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. If you go further south, you have to walk.

Only after crossing the Yellow River can you continue to take a boat at the southern end of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and sail to the Yangtze River.

The reason is that in 1855, the Yellow River underwent its sixth major course change in recorded history.

The Yellow River originally flowed southeast through northern Anhui and northern Jiangsu, directly to the East China Sea.

However, since the Tongwaxiangkou dike on the north bank of the Kaifeng section in Henan Province broke, the Yellow River has been rushing northward. The flood flows through the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal in Shandong Province into the Daqing River, and finally into the Bohai Sea in Lijin, Shandong.

This interruption of water flow occurred during the Taiping Rebellion period. At that time, the Qing Dynasty was busy with wars in the southeast and had no ability to take care of the Yellow River disaster area.

Later, when the Qing central government turned around and wanted to deal with the situation, the court was divided into two factions regarding the Yellow River bursting its banks, one advocating for diversion and the other for restoration, and they argued endlessly.

The result of the quarrel was that the Yellow River was allowed to burst its banks and flow wildly in Shandong for more than a year.

In the end, the situation became a fait accompli. There was no hope of restoring the Yellow River's course, and the local authorities had no choice but to reinforce the levees in the Yellow River section within Shandong Province, forming the prototype of the modern Yellow River.

The northward flow of the Yellow River not only affected the Yellow River itself, but also dealt a fatal blow to the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.

This diversion cut the Grand Canal in half in Shandong, and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal was no longer accessible.

After the diversion, the canal in Shandong section is sometimes blocked and sometimes unblocked. When the water conditions are good, ships traveling from south to north can pass through the Yellow River, go upstream and then enter the other section.

However, when the water conditions were bad, they had to completely abandon sailing and transport the goods by horse and horse from the southern section of the canal to the northern section of the canal, and then load them onto ships and sail to the capital.

Even though the Qing government later made many efforts, such as building dams and sluices where the Yellow River flows through the canal to "use the Yellow River for transportation", it was unable to defeat the power of nature.

First, the Yellow River bed in Shandong is unstable, and ships cannot navigate during the summer flood peak.

Secondly, the lower reaches of the Yellow River in Shandong flow northward, which is prone to ice floods in winter and makes navigation impossible.

The Grand Canal is only navigable for half a year out of a year.

The canal transportation had reached this level and should have been abandoned.

But no matter how difficult it was, the royal family, nobles, and dignitaries in the capital could not "starve", so the Qing Dynasty still did not give up the canal transportation.

However, the scale of water transport was far from what it used to be, so Linqing, an important city on the Grand Canal, was no longer prosperous.

Standing at the bow of the ship, Yan Fu saw the slightly desolate Linqing Customs on both sides of the river and felt a little lost.

"Is this the Linqing that surpassed the two capitals in prosperity and surpassed the Qi Prefecture in wealth?

I never expected that the important town of Linqing, once known for its bustling flotillas and markets stretching for miles, would now be in such a desolate state."

In Yan Fu's opinion, the canal did not seem to bring prosperity to this place.

There is no busy loading and unloading scene, no shops lining the coast, and no constant hawking sounds.

All that exists here are countless dilapidated houses and the people standing next to the houses, half-dressed and with evasive eyes.

Looking at Yan Fu's disappointed expression, Yuan Xiangcheng did not find this scene strange at all.

The two sentences Yan Fu just said are indeed a true portrayal of Linqing, Shandong during the Qing Dynasty.

As the crossroads of the Grand Canal, Linqing was once the number one economic center in Shandong Province.

It is higher than Jinan, the capital of Shandong Province. No, it is even far ahead of Jinan.

However, it was limited to the middle and early Qing Dynasty.

Linqing in front of us now looks like just an ordinary market town, only slightly more popular than Tongzhou Wharf in the east of Beijing.

It is normal to feel disappointed when there is a gap between what is written in the book and what you actually see.

In later times, this was called Paris Syndrome.

Yuan Xiangcheng consoled him, saying, "Brother Ji, after the Yellow River changed its course in the fifth year of Emperor Xianfeng's reign, Linqing embarked on a path of decline, a situation beyond human control.

However, in my opinion, Linqing’s decline may not be unsolvable.”

Yan Fu was intrigued by this and asked, "Oh? Chief Instructor, do you have any magic formula that can restore Linqing's prosperity?"

"This matter is easy to say, but also difficult to say." Yuan Xiangcheng laughed twice, changed the subject, and then pointed to the huge team at the Linqing Wharf not far away and said:

"Let's first ask the local people and see what they think."

Following Yuan Xiangcheng's finger, Yan Fu discovered that a group of people at the Linqing Wharf were holding banners and waving small flags.

It seems that they are here to welcome Yuan Shikai who is heading south.

Before leaving, Yuan Shikai had asked Song Qing, the governor of Shandong, and Tan Sitong, the head of the Red Confucian Society in western Shandong, not to set up any Wanmin Society.

But looking at the current situation, Yuan Xiangcheng knew that they had done it anyway.

Yuan Xiangcheng felt a little distressed when he saw this.

Song Qing was fine, as he was a former Qing bureaucrat and only surrendered at Shanhaiguan during the Qing Dynasty's war to overthrow the Qing government.

How could Tan Sitong, who received university education outside the Great Wall, be like this?

In fact, Yuan Xiangcheng still underestimated his status.

Not the Son of Heaven, but a Son of Heaven nonetheless.

Song Qing had been immersed in the Qing Dynasty officialdom for decades and was already extremely familiar with the etiquette of welcoming and seeing off guests.

"If President Yuan doesn't want it, then we won't do it locally?

When the Manchu Emperor Qianlong went to the south of the Yangtze River for the third time, he asked the local officials to hold up umbrellas for the people and the people along the river to kneel down and see him off!

Now, for the Republic's greatest hero, we should just let the people spontaneously come to welcome him, isn't that enough?"

Tan Sitong could not persuade Song Qing and finally had to agree reluctantly.

However, he really did not expect that Yuan Shikai's appeal in the Linqing area seemed somewhat amazing.

Some people who had no connection with the Red Confucian Society or the National Revolutionary Army rushed to the Linqing Customs Wharf.

In fact, Yuan Shikai was concerned about the grain transport, and the people along the Grand Canal were also concerned about Yuan Shikai.

Both directions went to belong to yes.

The canal transportation was affected when the Qing Dynasty was divided into the north and the south. Fortunately, the two sides had not yet started a war. Although the canal transportation was half-dead, at least people could make a living.

But later, Yuan Shikai launched the campaign to conquer Hunan, marching all the way south from Shandong to Yangzhou City.

The water transport operation was completely interrupted.

不过虽然2发生了战9事，但征湘4途中，国防军0也雇si佣了不少漕工运5粮南下，算是弥补了漕4运中断的影响。

But now that the war is over, there is no way to transport military supplies, and the grain transport has been interrupted again.

The people living along the Grand Canal all want to ask.

"President Yuan, why has the canal transportation not been restored yet?"