Hangzhou has two forts, three forts, four forts...all the way to nine forts. Why can't we find one fort? Did it never exist or was it renamed?

The reason why Yibao cannot be found is that the first fort is not named after "Yibao". The first fort is located slightly northwest-east of Peacock Building on Qiutao Road.

The Qing Dynasty's "Hangzhou Provincial City, Seawall, and Fu Xue Map" and "Illustration of the Road from Anlan Garden to Hangzhou Palace" said that the "Eight Immortals Stone" is located slightly northwest of Fan Gongtang. According to this, the "head" "Fort" should be located slightly northwest and east of the Peacock Building on Qiutao Road.

The place name named after "Fort" in Hangzhou evolved from the name of "Fort House" that manages the seawall. The fort house is a place where the guards rest and store their tools during the "battalion" and "flood" management system of the seawall.

Extended information:

In the eighth year of Yongzheng (1730), a flood control organization was established based on the river defense system of the Yellow River. First, a seawall Qianzong and a garrison were set up on the north bank, leading 200 soldiers. The remaining people were guarded in sections.

Since then, the seawall has implemented semi-military management. In the eleventh year of Yongzheng (1733), the Governor of Zhili came to Zhejiang with an order to comprehensively consider the situation of the seawall. He believed that there were too few management personnel, so he asked for the appointment of a "Taoist" (the title of deputy envoy of coastal defense military equipment, equivalent to the current deputy director). level cadres), and increased the number of management personnel to more than 1,000 people along the north coast seawall.

From Qingchunmen Eight Immortals Stone to Pinghu Jinsi Niang Bridge, there are two "battalions" on the left and right, and twelve "flood" camps stationed at the Eight Immortals Stone (Toubao), Zhangjia'an, and Wengjia Forts were set up in Bu, Guanyintang, Laoyancang, Jinghai, Zhenhai, Qianliting, Jianshan, Kanpu, Haiyan and Pinghu in each "flood season".

Afterwards, the division of "battalions" and "flood" and the number of soldiers were adjusted according to changes in river conditions. In the forty-ninth year of Qianlong's reign (1784), ninety-four forts were set up on the north bank for seven floods, which became custom-made and remained in place until the reform of the pond system in the thirty-fourth year of Guangxu's reign (1908). After that, the management model of three institutions was established: "Seawall Engineering General Administration" (today's Zhejiang Qiantang River Management Bureau), "Seawall Patrol Bureau" and "Tanggong Council".