The Activities About The Farmland And Irrigation In The Capital And Tianjin Area In Late Ming Dynasty

Zhu Di,the Emperor of Ming Dynasty,moved capital to Beijing,so the political center turned to the north,which had a huge guarantee for the stability of the regime,guarding the Central Plains,defense of the northern nomadic people.However,the economic focus was still in the land of the Jiangnan.The founding father,Zhu Yuanzhang,advocated vigorous efforts to restore the development of the northern economy,encouraged the development of the economy,and the economy was recovered quickly.However,the fact that most of the state's finances depending on the southeast economy had not changed,and the taxation of the southeastern economic center of gravity remained heavy.In particular,after the Mid-Ming period,the Policy of Tuntian was bad,the water conservancy was in disrepair,and the power and wealthy had a large number of annexed lands.Northern agriculture was almost deserted,and the potential for land acquisition in the Beijing-Tianjin area was even worse.Farmland waste was even worse.In addition to social turmoil and frequent external plagues,the canal roads were choked and blocked,which resulted in insufficient supply to the capital.Moreover,the transportation of grain from southeast to the capital further aggravated the burden on the people of the southeast.The peasants in the south were in the difficult situation of poverty and the social turmoil fluctuated,resulting the ruling crisis.The economic crisis,the maintenance of the dynasty,and the consolidation of power had led people of insight to reopen the farmland water conservancy project in Beijing.During the Wanli period,Xu Zhenming spoke highly of the industry of irrigation and water conservancy in Beijing,and wrote the book Lu Shui Ke Tan to explain in detail his opinions,pointing out the favorable conditions and necessity of the field and the specific measures.In the following,Wang Yingjiao,Zuo Guangdou,Dong Yingju and others actively carried out farmland water conservancy projects in the area around Tianjin.Wang Yingjiao proposed a method of the army and the farmers jointly developing agriculture.Zuo Guangdou proposed the “Three Reasons for the Fourteen Argument” and the policy of liberalization and tuition.Since then,Xu Guangqi personally practiced in the Tianjin area and put forward the idea that the industry of the irrigation and water conservancy in Beijing and Tianjin could make the country rich and strong.He also summed up the methods and techniques for the development of northern agriculture on the basis of the achievements and experiences of the predecessors.It provideed an empirical basis for the development of agriculture in the Qing Dynasty and even in the contemporary North.In summary,they all advocated that the capital region had a superior geographical location and an advantageous natural environment.The development of agriculture based on the combination of farmland reclaiming and water conservancy can increase food production and stabilize the basic position of agriculture.Additionally,it could relieve the political and economic crisis and consolidate the rule.It was a pity that the positive ideas and practices of the insighted ended up with failure.The reason lay in the corruption of the feudal dynasty,but it had certain practical significance for today's society.