The development of agricultural production has promoted the development of handicraft production. Iron smelting was an important handicraft department at that time. Iron farm tools have been widely used. Archaeologists have unearthed iron farm tools from the Eastern Han Dynasty, such as plowshares and sickles. The sickle unearthed from an Eastern Han tomb in Sichuan is 35 cm long and used to harvest crops.
During the period of Emperor Guangwu of Han Dynasty, Du Shi, the magistrate of Nanyang, summed up the production experience of working people and invented the drainer, which stirred the bellows of the iron smelting furnace by hydraulic power to heat up the iron smelting furnace. Using this blast furnace to smelt pig iron and forged iron can not only significantly improve the quality, but also save labor and cost.
With the development of agriculture and handicraft production, irrigation and shipping must be greatly improved. Since the end of the Western Han Dynasty, many canals and ponds have been destroyed due to war and social unrest, which has seriously affected farmland irrigation and waterway transportation. In order to solve this problem, it is urgent to build water conservancy projects. Wang Jing, a famous water conservancy expert in the Eastern Han Dynasty, made great contributions to the regulation of rivers and canals under the needs of the times and won people's praise.
Wang Jing is a native of Lelang County, North Korea. His eighth ancestor came from Langya, Shandong, China. During the reign of Emperor Jing of the Western Han Dynasty, his ancestors moved to North Korea in order to avoid the rebellion of Wu Chu. It was spread to Jing Wong's generation because he missed his parents' motherland and liked the culture of the Han nationality, and moved back to his hometown in Shandong with the feeling that "a tree catches the wind and leaves return to the roots". Jing Wong not only likes China's ancient philosophy, astronomy, mathematics and other sciences, but also has great research on all kinds of practical engineering, skills and production knowledge, especially on building water conservancy projects. During the reign of Emperor Han Ming, Yi Qu (now Kaifeng City, Henan Province) was in disrepair and floods often occurred. Ming Di asked an official named Wang Wu to take charge of the repairs. Wu Xiangming recommended Jing Wong to participate in the project. Ming Di accepted the proposal and asked Wang Jing to help Wu Wang. Wang Wu adopted the "plug-flow method" proposed by Jing Wong to control Yi Qu, and achieved great success. The "water return method" is to adopt different methods to get through the blocked place according to the different terrain, so that the accumulated water can be unblocked. This method of water control, which is based on local conditions and seeking truth from facts, was summed up by Wang Jing according to his previous experience.
Emperor Hanming was glad that the Yi Qu had been repaired, so that Wang Jing could repair the side canal. The side canal starts from Yang Rong, Henan Province in the west and ends in Haikou, Qiancheng, where the Yellow River enters the sea in the east. It flows through Yuzhou, Yanzhou, Qingzhou and other areas 1000. It is the main artery of waterway transportation and an important irrigation and water conservancy project in these States. Since the Western Han Dynasty, because the Yellow River flooded the girder (now Kaifeng City, Henan Province) and the Bianshui River invaded the east, the riverbanks often burst, which not only lost the convenience of shipping and irrigation, but also made people in several states suffer greatly. People have repeatedly asked the court of the Eastern Han Dynasty to send someone to repair the branch canal, but the local county officials just talk and don't take action. Sometimes, they also apportion donations to the people for canal repair. However, the collected donations are often used to start other projects that are not urgently needed, but the flood problem on both sides of the branch canal has not been solved.
In the 12th year of Yongping (AD 69), Emperor Han Ming personally summoned Wang Jing and asked him how to repair the side canal. According to what Jing Wong learned, he put forward a feasible scheme to repair the canal. Ming Di gave precious books handed down from ancient times, such as Shan Hai Jing, Hequ Shu and Gong Yu Tu, to Jing Wong, asking him to learn from the experience of the ancients and manage the folk songs well.
This summer, Jing Wang got the funds and equipment for canal repair from the national treasury, mobilized hundreds of thousands of migrant workers and soldiers from Henan, Qinghai and Yanzhou, and started a large-scale canal repair project. This time, Wang Jing asked Wang Wu to be his assistant. The two of them cooperated with each other and personally led the migrant workers to measure the terrain and arrange the construction steps. Jing Wong's Appreciation of Ancient Landscape Paintings: A Case Study of Yu Xia in History. He often goes to the construction site to work with migrant workers, cutting mountains and chiseling stones, removing obstacles, digging deep rivers and cleaning up silt accumulated for many years. Embankments should be raised in low-lying areas to strengthen flood control. Many new branches have been dug on both sides of the main canal, which not only reduces the burden of the main canal, but also facilitates farmland irrigation. In a waterway 1000 miles long, a sluice is built every ten miles to regulate the water flow. When the upstream is dry and short of water, the downstream sluice can be closed, forcing the water level to rise and the canal water to flow back to meet the needs of shipping and irrigation. This method of canal repair is completely in line with scientific principles, and it can be said that it is a summary of thousands of years' experience in building water conservancy projects since flood control in Yu Xia.
People along the side canal actively support the canal repair project. They sent tea and water to migrant workers and soldiers, enthusiastically donated baskets of shoulder poles, and made great contributions to the canal repair project. The renovation of the side canal was carried out for a whole year, and the project was completed before the flood came the next summer. Liu Zhuang and Ming Di personally inspected the completed river with the Minister of Civil and Military Affairs, and summoned county officials along the canal, stipulating that in the future, counties along the canal must set up special personnel to be responsible for maintenance, and local officials will be punished if there are problems due to poor management. Ming Di also ordered that canal restorers be rewarded. Wang Wu and other canal repairers were all promoted to the next level. Wang Jing presided over the project and made the greatest contribution. He was promoted to the third level and was promoted to the imperial history. After two years, I worshipped him for the riverside and gave many silks and satins to my horses and chariots.
It took a year to renovate the 1000-mile-long waterway, which was really a great achievement at that time. Why can we achieve such a great success? In addition to Jing Wong's own skills and efforts, the social conditions at that time also played a considerable role. A large number of iron tools were used to repair canals, and the developed measurement technology at that time was applied, especially the rich experience accumulated by the working people in China since the Warring States Period. Before the Eastern Han Dynasty, the working people in China had dug many canals, including Zheng Guoqu, Ximen Bao and Baiqu. People have accumulated rich experience in digging and repairing these canals. Jing Wong absorbed the experience of predecessors, made bold innovations according to the actual situation, and made great achievements.
Jing Wang not only made contributions to the water conservancy project of repairing canals and harnessing rivers, but also made achievements in developing agricultural production. When Liu, the son of Emperor Hanming, was in power, Wang Jing was appointed as the satrap of Lujiang. He found that the soil in Lujiang was fertile, but the grain output was very low, and many people were too poor to eat. After careful understanding, he realized that the local farming technology was very backward, and farmers didn't know how to use Niu Gengdi. Wang Jing sent people to buy a lot of cattle and iron farm tools from other places, vigorously advocated the use of cattle and iron plows to cultivate land, and called on farmers to reclaim wasteland. In this way, the grain output of Lujiang has increased and the lives of farmers have improved.