When Yao was in office, there was a big flood in the Yellow River basin, crops were flooded, houses were destroyed, and people had to move to higher ground. There are poisonous snakes and beasts in many places, which endanger people and animals and make people unable to live.
Yao convened a tribal alliance meeting to discuss water control. He asked the leaders of four tribes for advice: Who should be sent to control the flood? The leaders all recommend guns (sound gǔn).
Yao doesn't believe in guns. The leader said: "There is no better talent than a gun now. Please try! " Yao reluctantly agreed.
It took Gun nine years to control the water, but he didn't subdue the flood. Because he only knew how to cover up with water and build dams, the flood collapsed and became more fierce.
After replacing Yao as the leader of the tribal alliance, Shun personally went to the place where the water was controlled. He found that Gun was ineffective, so he killed Gun and asked Gun's son Yu to control the water.
Yu changed his father's practice and introduced the flood into the sea by opening canals to drain water and dredge rivers. He worked with the people, wearing a hat and holding a shovel, taking the lead in digging holes and collecting soil, so tired that he polished the hair on his calf.
After 13 years of efforts, the flood was finally led to the sea, and the land can be used to grow human crops again.
Shortly after the wedding, in order to control water, I ran around and passed his house three times, but I didn't go in. Once, his wife Tu Shanshi gave birth to his son Qi, and the baby cried. I passed by the door and heard crying, but I didn't go in to visit.
At that time, there was a mountain in the middle reaches of the Yellow River called Longmen Mountain (in the northwest of Hejin County, Shanxi Province). It blocked the river and made it very narrow. The river running eastward is blocked by Longmen Mountain, which often overflows the river and causes floods. When Yu got there, he observed the terrain, led people to dig the Longmen, and made a big hole in the mountain. In this way, the river is unimpeded.
Later generations praised Yu's achievements in water control and called him Dayu.
When Shun was old, he found an heir, just like Yao. Everyone chose because of his meritorious service in water control. After Shun's death, Yu inherited the leadership position of the tribal alliance.
At this time, it has reached the late stage of the clan commune. With the development of productive forces, what a person produces is not only to maintain his own life, but also surplus. The leaders of clans and tribes took advantage of their position and took the surplus products as their private property and became nobles of clans. With the surplus products, wars broke out between tribes, captured prisoners, stopped killing, and turned them into slaves to work for nobles. In this way, the two classes of slaves and slave owners gradually formed, and the clan commune began to collapse.
Due to Yu's achievements in water control, the prestige and power of tribal alliance leaders have been improved. According to legend, when Yu was old, he traveled eastward to Huiji Mountain (in Shaoxing, Zhejiang) and gathered many tribal leaders. All the people who went to see jade held jade in their hands, and the ceremony was very grand. There was a tribal leader named Fang Feng, who was the last to attend the meeting. I thought I wouldn't do it, so I beheaded Fang Feng. This shows that Yu at that time had changed from a tribal alliance leader to a veritable king. Yu once had an assistant named, who helped Yu manage politics. After his death, his son Boyi also became Yu's assistant. According to the abdication system, Boyi should have been the heir of Yu. However, after Yu's death, the nobles of the Xia tribe where Yu lived supported Yu's son Qi to inherit Yu's throne.
In this way, the tribal alliance election system in the clan commune period was officially abolished and became the hereditary system of the throne. The first slavery dynasty in Chinese history-Xia Dynasty appeared.
There are relics and rumors about Dayu everywhere in our country. There are Yu ruins and Yu palaces in Huaiyuan County, Anhui Province. There is Yumen in Hancheng County, Shaanxi Province; There is Yumenkou in Hejin County, Shanxi Province; There is a site of Wang Yucheng at the foot of Zhongtiao Mountain in Xia County, Shanxi Province. There is Yuwangtai in the suburb of Kaifeng, Henan; Yuxian has Yu Wang Suojiao Well; There is a collection of Yugong at the eastern end of Guishan Mountain in Wuhan, Hubei Province; There is a stone tablet of Wang Yu on the top of Yuelu Mountain in Changsha, Hunan. Even in Nanjiang County, southwest Sichuan Province, there is a Yu Palace. In Luoyang, Henan Province, there is a legend that Dayu dug Longmen. These Dayu sites all over China are engraved with Dayu's great achievements and people's thoughts. Dayu was the most respected among the great men in ancient China.
Dayu, surnamed Si (IV), is famous for his meritorious service in water control. Later it was called Dayu, which means great Yu.
He began to control water from the time his father shot. The ancient story of our people's struggle against floods began with guns.
According to legend, about 4000 years ago, China was a legendary era in which Yao and Shun came to power one after another, and it was also a patriarchal commune period in which China was in transition from primitive society to slave society. At that time, the production capacity was very low and the living conditions were very difficult. Some big rivers flood about every year. Once, there was a serious flood in the Yellow River basin, with cross-flow and continuous floods, houses collapsed, fields were flooded, crops were not harvested, and people died. The living people had to flee to the mountains for shelter.
Yao, the leader of the tribal alliance, held a meeting of the tribal alliance to fight floods and asked the tribal leaders to discuss water conservancy affairs. Yao said to everyone, "The flood is merciless. Please think about it. Who will be sent to control the water? " Everyone recommended Gun to handle it. Yao disagreed and said, "He is very headstrong and may not be able to accomplish great things." However, the leaders insisted that Gun give it a try. According to the habits of the tribes at that time, the opinions of the leaders of the tribal alliance were inconsistent with everyone's opinions, and the leaders should listen to everyone's opinions. Yao had to accept everyone's suggestion and reluctantly agreed to let the gun control the water. When Gun arrived at the place of water control, he followed the traditional method of water and soil blocking, that is, embankment was built with soil to plug the loopholes. He surrounded the area where people lived with a small earthen city like a wall. When the flood came, the soil layer kept rising and thickening. However, due to the fierce flood, the dike was washed away and the earth wall collapsed, and the flood became more fierce. After nine years of water control by artillery, people and money were wasted, and nothing was achieved, and the flood was not subdued.
Shun followed Yao as the leader and personally inspected the water conservancy situation. Seeing that the gun was helpless against the flood and delayed the great event, he committed a crime and put him to death in Yushan (a mythical place name). Later, Yu, the son of Gun, was ordered to continue water control, and Qi, the ancestor of Shang clan, Qi, the ancestor of Zhou clan, Boyi and Gao Yao, the leader of Dongke clan, were sent to help.
After Dayu was ordered, he first searched for the lessons of previous failures in water control, and then led Qi, Abandon and others to wade across mountains and rivers with his disciples' assistants, made a general survey of the source, upstream and downstream of the water flow, and piled some stones or cut down trees in important places as reference marks in water control. This investigation is very hard. It is said that once they walked to a river in Shandong Province, suddenly a strong wind blew, dark clouds rolled, lightning flashed and thundered, heavy rain poured down and flash floods broke out, which swept away many people at once. Some people were drowned by the roaring flood, while others disappeared into the tumbling water. Dayu's disciples were frightened, so later some people called this river Tuhai River (in today's Yucheng and Liaocheng areas of Shandong Province).
After Dayu's investigation, he carefully studied various water conditions and finally decided to control the flood by dredging. Dayu personally led his disciples and the people, with simple tools such as stone axes, knives, shovels and wooden barriers, and began to control water. They devoted themselves to water control, camping and picnicking, exposed their clothes, and worked hard through hardships. Dayu, in particular, got up early, was greedy for the dark, worked hard, and his waist was tired and his legs were swollen, but he still dared not slack off.
According to textual research, Dayu was in contact with water in eastern Hebei, eastern Henan, western and southern Shandong, and northern Huaihe River. Once, they came to the southern suburbs of Luoyang, Henan. There is a high mountain here, which belongs to the residual vein of Qinling Mountain and continues to Songshan Mountain in Zhongyue Mountain. The mountain peak is strange and majestic, just like a natural barrier that runs from east to west. There is a natural gap in the middle of the mountain, and a trickle flows slowly through the gap. However, when the flood broke out, the river was blocked by the mountain, forming a vortex at the gap, and the rushing river endangered the safety of the surrounding people. Dayu decided to concentrate his manpower on water control and clear the way in the mountains. Hard work damaged stone tools, wood products and bone tools. The loss of people is even greater. Some people were cut by rocks, some fell up the mountain and died, and some people were swept away by the flood. However, they are still unwavering and insist on splitting the mountain. In this hard day and night, Dayu's face was tanned, tired and thin. Even the hair on his calf has been polished, and his toenails have fallen off because he has been soaked in water for a long time, but he is still operating and commanding. Driven by him, the water control progressed rapidly, and the mountain finally opened suddenly, forming a confrontation between two walls. The flood rushed thousands of miles down the river, and the river was unblocked from then on.
Dayu successfully controlled water by dredging. The original Yellow River system is divided into main stream and tributaries. If the mainstream is deepened and widened, the tributaries are dredged and connected with the mainstream, the water of all tributaries can return to the mainstream. At the same time, they cultivated the original high places higher and dredged the original low places deeper, naturally forming land and lakes. They connected these lakes and streams with tributaries, so that the flood could flow to the sea unimpeded.
Dayu commanded people to dig mountain after mountain and open river after river in about ten years. He forgot his personal affairs. It is said that Dayu passed by the house several times without going in. The first time he passed by the door, he happened to meet his wife and have a baby. Everyone advised him to go in and take care of it. He didn't go in for fear of affecting water conservancy. On another occasion, his children were very happy to see their father. They asked Dayu to see his home, but he still didn't go in. He devoted his whole body and mind to the cause of digging mountains and rivers.
After the success of water control, Dayu came to Maoshan (now the suburb of Shaoxing, Zhejiang), summoned governors, rewarded meritorious deeds, and organized people to use water and soil to develop agricultural production. He asked Boyi to distribute rice seeds to the masses and let them grow rice in places with low temperatures; Also called Hou Ji (Ji) to teach you to grow different kinds of crops; Fish, geese and ducks were raised in the lake, and cattail grass was planted, and the flood became water conservancy. Boyi also improved the sinking technology and greatly developed agricultural production, with abundant crops and prosperous livestock everywhere.
Dayu was recommended as Shun's assistant because of his meritorious service in water control. Seventeen years later, after Shun's death, he succeeded to the throne as the leader of the tribal alliance. Later, Qi, the son of Dayu, established the first slave country in China-Xia Dynasty, so later generations also called him Xia Dynasty. Yu Xia died and was buried in Maoshan. Later generations renamed Maoshan Huiji Mountain because Yu held a grand ceremony here to reward the princes. This is the origin of Dayu tomb in Shaoxing. Today, the jade spirit bear will meet the mountain, the pavilion mountain and the fish pond. 1979, a pavilion with cornices and horns was rebuilt in Dayu's tomb and stood at the end of the tunnel. Inside stands a huge monument of "Dayu's Tomb" inscribed by Amin Nandaji. The ancient pagodas around the pavilion are flat and gloomy, with green pine and bamboo, quiet and elegant. There are Yu-Xue Pavilion and Yu-Xue Pavilion in the south of the pavilion, which are the places where predecessors studied Yu's tombs.
Dayu has benefited the people and will always be praised by Chinese descendants. Dayu's fighting spirit will always be remembered by Chinese people. When people come to Shaoxing, they will never forget to visit Dayu's tomb in the southeast of the city.