Yuan Grain Transport and River-Works Crisis

Timeline

1. 1330–1335Zhigu (sea-transport landing port) · North ChinaAfter peaking at over 3.5 million shi in Tianli 2 (1329), grain transport gradually declined. Paper-currency depreciation made goods heavy and cash light, shipbuilding and repair materials rose tenfold in price, and ship households suffered while government fee increases could not cover costs, accumulating contradictions in the sea-transport system.
2. 1338Yuanzhou and Qi County · ChinaThe White Lotus uprisings of Peng Yingyu and Zhou Ziwang in Jiangxi and the Fan Mengduan incident in Henan—forging an imperial edict to kill a pacification commissioner—showed that the Jiangnan and Central Plains order on which grain transport depended was shaken, worsening the social base for conscripting river-work laborers.
3. 1338–1339Shandong, Henan, Xuzhou · North ChinaBreaches struck fifteen prefectures and counties in Shandong, Henan, and Xuzhou, and the lower Yellow River dikes repeatedly failed despite repairs. Floods threatened the Huitong Canal and the salt fields of the two transport commissions; the court repeatedly sent officials to inspect and plan repairs but could not fix the root causes, laying the groundwork for the 1344 Baimao dike breach.