The most failed spy plan in history dedicated the world’s granary to Qin

In Sanyuan County, Shaanxi Province, some Qin Opera plays are often performed during the slack time, one of which is quite famous: "The Plan of Tired Qin". The play tells the story of the Warring States Period, when a Korean water conservancy engineer named Guo Zheng persuaded the Qin rulers to divert water from the Jing River to build canals to irrigate farmland, thus turning Guanzhong into the world's granary. In that era when the demon trainees were fighting each other, the Qin State pointed its finger at neighboring South Korea in order to achieve unified hegemony. At the moment when Korea was about to be destroyed, a strange war took place at the turning point of Chinese history. This strange war was for the construction of Zheng Guo Canal. The great historian Sima Qian made clear records of Zheng Guoqu in the "Historical Records" AD. North Korean water conservancy engineer Guo Zheng came to Qin and persuaded the ruler to dig a canal in Qin and divert water from the Jing River to build the project. Later generations described this special war like this: Using big projects to attack each other is a whimsical idea; using big projects as weapons to attack each other is a strange war through the ages. What is dramatic is that the outcome of this strange war is that Zheng Guoqu, a country that was initially regarded as a life-saving straw by South Korea, just led South Korea to its demise. Although this canal dug by Zheng Guo has been ruined several times, almost every dynasty has rebuilt it on its basis for more than two thousand years. To this day, people who have lived here for generations are still enjoying the benefits of the canal water. So, why did South Korea pin its national destiny on a canal more than 2,000 years ago? Let Qin build the Zhengguo Canal. This is a plan to weaken Qin. How did it become a strategy to strengthen Qin? There is such a folk song circulating in Guanzhong: Jiuqu Jinghe Bay, rushing out of Longkou and entering Jing Canal, irrigating countless fertile fields, Zheng's address is unforgettable. The Longkou in the ballad is the Lukou recorded in "Historical Records". According to records in "Historical Records", the Zhengguo Canal draws water from Lukou. Like a long straw, it passes through the northern part of the Guanzhong Plain and connects the Jing River and Luoshui River. The water diversion entrance of Zhengguo Canal is the mouth of the canyon at the foot of Zhongshan Mountain next to the Jinghe River. After more than two thousand years of changes, Zheng Guo Canal has been annihilated. So what does the real Zheng Guo Canal look like? According to records in "Historical Records", the Zhengguo Canal flows through Jingyang, Sanyuan, Gaoling, Lintong, Yanliang and other counties in Shaanxi Province today, stretching for 124 kilometers and irrigating 1.15 million acres of farmland. Zheng Guoqu's record is very simple. Behind this seemingly simple story, there is an unusual history hidden. The story begins with Shang Yang’s reform in 256 BC, which paved the way for the construction of Zheng Guo Canal. The Qin State was vast and sparsely populated, so Shang Yang encouraged the land reclamation and construction of water conservancy projects. Shang Yang's policy of heavily rewarding agricultural warfare made the Qin country grow stronger rapidly. He began to turn his attention to neighboring Korea, because South Korea was located in the strategic road behind Hangu Pass in the east of Qin State, which became an obstacle to Qin's eastward expansion. At that time, the Qin army fought bravely and was regarded as an army of tigers and wolves. The weapons used by the Qin army were very sharp. The surface of the arrow has been treated with chromium salt and has been buried underground for more than two thousand years, and the edge is still very sharp. Faced with the threat of the powerful Qin, South Korea became frightened, and the capital of South Korea was moved several times. However, this did not avoid Qin's aggressive offensive. In order to deal with it, Su Qin, a united front politician at the time, proposed a six-nation coalition to resist Qin. In this regard, Qin State adopted the strategy of Wei State Zhang Yi's alliance and fought and suppressed other vassal states. In 307 BC, Qin finally captured the coveted Hangu Pass. At this time, the fertile fields and products on the Great Plains began to come into contact with the Qin army. At that time, Wei, which was closer to Qin, was relatively powerful. In 293 BC, Han and Wei united to fight Qin in the Yique area southeast of today's Luoyang. As a result, 240,000 Korean and Wei coalition troops were killed, and South Korea and its most important allies suffered a fatal blow from Qin. In 291 BC, the Qin State captured Wan, an important town in the Central Plains of South Korea, the center of the iron smelting and handicraft industry. Just one year later, under the threat of the Soviet Union, South Korea was forced to cede large areas of fertile land to Qin. In 266 BC, a tourist proposed to the king

In 262 BC, the important town of Wangye in South Korea was captured, cutting off the road from the Dang to Xinzheng on the Taihang Mountains, and forcing South Korea to surrender. As a result, Han sacrificed Shangdang to Zhao, which triggered the Changping War in 260 BC. 400,000 Zhao troops were buried alive by Qin. In 249 BC, Korea was on the verge of collapse. At that time, the North Korean army was also very powerful in combat. It is said that all the strong bows and crossbows were in North Korea, and all the swords in the world were in South Korea. However, under the attack of Qiang Qin, South Korea was really defeated. There were corpses of soldiers everywhere and people fled everywhere. The scene was very miserable. Facing a powerful enemy, the dying King Hui of Han sent unarmed water conservancy engineers to persuade Qin to build water conservancy projects. From South Korea's perspective, this is a good way to save the nation and survive in times of crisis.

At that time, no country had a standing army, and the people were all soldiers. However, to build large-scale irrigation projects like the Zhengguo Canal, Qin must use all its young and middle-aged labor force, which will consume a lot of money and energy, and will inevitably affect the process of Qin's unification war. South Korea wants to seek temporary peace. At that time, ideas and technology were very open, and it was common for talented people to go abroad to make contributions and be reused. The idea that water conservancy is the foundation of a strong country has emerged in various countries. For the Qin State, building water conservancy was a strategic plan to consolidate the foundation, cultivate the capital, and annex the six countries. At that time, there were no large-scale water conservancy projects in the Guanzhong Plain of Qin State, so South Korea believed that this plan was most likely to be accepted. Guo Zheng, who shouldered the important task of saving the fate of South Korea, met with the ruler of Qin, Lu Buwei, in Xianyang Palace and put forward a proposal to build the canal. At that time, Qin was only 13 years old, and the country's major policies were actually presided over by the prime minister. Lu Buwei, a businessman who is not from Aqin, has always wanted to do several major things to show his ability to govern the country and consolidate his political status. South Korea's proposal coincided with Lu Buwei's desire to make a contribution, and Lu Buwei organized forces to start building the Zhengguo Canal that year. In 246 BC, Jinghe River became the most spectacular construction site in China at that time. There were as many as 100,000 builders at that time, and Zheng Guoze became the general manager of this large project. Experts believe that the reason why Qin built this project at a critical moment when wars continued was inseparable from Guanzhong's special status. Guanzhong not only has superior conditions for developing agricultural production, but is also a safe place surrounded by natural disasters. The Yellow River curves eastward from here, cutting off the eastern vassal states. There are natural barriers formed by Qinling Mountains, Qishan Mountains and Longshan Mountains on its south, north and west sides, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack. Since ancient times, there has been a saying that the country has four blockades. In 316 BC, the Qin army occupied the Sichuan Basin and became the second richest place outside China. Let the Dujiangyan Plain become a land of abundance and let Qin see the huge role of water conservancy in national prosperity. At that time, the main battlefield of the Qin army was in the north, and food transportation in the Chengdu Plain was difficult, so it was crucial to increase food production in Guanzhong. In ancient times, the Jinghe and Weihe rivers often flooded, bringing a large amount of fertile silt to Guanzhong. However, due to frequent droughts in the Guanzhong Plain, fertile farmland cannot be fully developed. Zheng proposed to use Jing River water to irrigate Guanzhong, which was what Qin had long desired. Guo Zheng's water diversion and irrigation project made full use of the topographic characteristics of the Guanzhong Plain, which is high in the northwest and low in the southeast, allowing the canal water to flow from high to low. In order to ensure the water source for irrigation, the Zhengguo Canal used a unique crossing technology to block the Qingyu River and Shiyu River along the way, allowing the river water to flow into the Zhengguo Canal. The Zhengguo Canal cleverly connects the Jinghe River and Luoshui River, taking water from water, using it to the land, and returning it to the water. From today's perspective, such a design can be described as ingenious. In 237 BC, when the Zheng Guo Canal was about to be completed, an accident happened. The State of Qin saw through that building the canal was a conspiracy

Qin weighed the pros and cons and finally concluded that the significance of building water conservancy for the development of agriculture in Guanzhong could far offset the consumption of national power. Therefore, the King of Qin withdrew his decision to expel the foreigners, and Zheng Guo Canal was able to continue construction. In 236 BC, it took Zheng Guoqu ten years to complete. The dust of Zheng Guoqu has settled. People saw a new Qin State. Zhengguo Canal echoes Dujiangyan from the north to the south. Like two wings, the six eastern countries are all under its shadow. The time has come for Qin to destroy the six kingdoms. After the completion of Zheng Guo Canal, Guanzhong became the granary of the world. According to historians' estimates, the 1.15 million acres of fertile farmland irrigated was enough for Qin's 600,000-strong army. In 230 BC, the Qin army pointed at North Korea. At this time, for Qin, the strategy of weakening Qin turned into a strategy of strengthening Qin. As soon as the final decisive battle for the first great reunification in Chinese history began, the entire South Korean army was wiped out. Fifteen years after the completion of the Zhengguo Canal, the Qin State destroyed the six kingdoms and achieved unification. Zheng Guoqu has always influenced the most powerful Han and Tang dynasties in China. Due to the irrigation provided by the Zhengguo Canal and the rich products in Guanzhong, Chang'an, the prosperous capital of the Han and Tang Dynasties, showed a prosperous scene. In the vicissitudes of life, Zheng Guoqu disappeared, but it has always attracted people's attention. In the winter of 1985, Qin Jianming from the Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Center came to Jinghe and finally found the missing Zheng Guoqu. Qin Jianming's research found that the first site of the Zhengguo Canal more than 2,000 years ago was a place called Laohuling between Wangwan Village and Shangran Village in the Xuankou area of ????Jinghe River. Zheng Guoqu, who had been missing for thousands of years, finally surfaced. More than two thousand years later, a new water conservancy project called Jinghui Canal was built not far from the Zhengguo Canal site. This canal, named Jinghe River, benefited the land and people of Guanzhong. Today, there are more than 1.3 million acres of fertile farmland in the Guanzhong Plain, and the source of this favor is Zheng Guoqu.