Jùlù

Julu's county town stood in a sandy landscape where walls and drainage required repeated attention. The loose soil made its defences liable to collapse, while the moat readily filled with sediment. Repairs and dredging were therefore recurring tasks. In 1577 magistrate Zhang Dongxiao rebuilt the town walls, one episode in the continuing work needed to maintain a defended county centre.

Water management also extended beyond the walls. During major flooding in 1501, magistrate Tang Ze undertook extensive embankment works around the county to relieve the population's difficulties. Changes in the Zhang River's courses could unsettle the surrounding plain and demanded responses at a scale larger than the town itself. Julu's Ming history thus joined urban fortification to the maintenance of its wider watery landscape, with county officials directing works against both unstable ground and damaging floods.