In order to prevent the Yellow River from breaking its banks again, Pan Jixun put forward the strategy of "harnessing the river by river and attacking the sand by water", that is, building a dike on the Huaihe River to control water, and then attacking a large amount of sediment deposited on the Yellow River with Huai water to achieve the purpose of dredging and controlling the Yellow River. However, the Huaihe River is weaker than the Yellow River. If we want to "attack sand with water", we must heighten and lengthen the Gaojiayan on the west bank of Hongze Lake. After Pan Jixun reported his general plan for river management, he thought it would be approved, but Emperor Wanli, who was troubled by the problem of river flooding, hesitated at this time.
It turns out that the first mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty-Ming Zuling-is located near Gaojiayan, which was built by Zhu Yuanzhang for his ancestors and is a treasure trove to bless Daming Mountain forever. Building a high weir and raising the water level of Hongze Lake will inevitably flood the Ming Zuling.
On the one hand, it is the people who suffered from the river disaster, and on the other hand, it is the ancestral grave that is related to the life and death of Daming Mountain. How should I choose? Finally, Wanli ordered that the Gaojiayan levee could only be reinforced and could not be raised.
As a result, dike projects on both sides of the Yellow River have been built one after another, but the Gaojiayan levee, which plays a decisive role, can only be strengthened and repaired. Pan Jixun looked at the Gaojiayan levee that could not be raised, and he couldn't help but feel worried.
The newly-built dike system played a role, and there was no major flood in the Yellow River for the next ten years. It was not until the 16th year of Wanli that the Yellow River burst its banks again, and the problem of river regulation was put before Wanli. Pan Jixun stated the interests of the Yellow River, begged the emperor to put people first, and approved himself to raise and lengthen the Gaojiayan to prevent the Yellow River from flooding. However, Wanli rejected him again. In order to provide the last line of defense for water control and flood control, Pan Jixun had to renovate and reinforce some dams. In the twenty years of Wanli, Pan Jixun resigned on the grounds of old age and illness, ending a long and arduous career in river management.
The weak dam can't resist the continuous flood. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Yellow River continued to flood, and the food in its path was completely out of production, and people starved to death everywhere. The flood brought plague again, and people rose to survive.
Internal peasant uprisings are surging, and external nuzhen constantly disturbs the border. Under the internal and external troubles, Daming, the Empire State Building, finally collapsed, and the Ming Zuling, which Wanli wholeheartedly saved, finally sank to the bottom because of the Yellow River.
This ancestral tomb, which was supposed to protect the country forever, indirectly led to the collapse of the country, which was probably unexpected by Emperor Wanli. But at the moment when Wanli abandoned the safety of the people and put the ancestral grave in the first place, it was already doomed to such an ending.