How did the Grand Canal help supply Kublai Khan’s capital in northern China?

During the Yuan dynasty, the Mongol capital of Dadu (modern-day Beijing) required a reliable system to transport grain from the agriculturally productive regions of southern China to feed the city and its large standing armies.1

To address this need, the Yuan government undertook the construction of new canal sections, most notably the Huitong Canal, which connected the Huang He (Yellow River) to the Wei River at Linqing. This effort helped form the modern Grand Canal system. However, during the Yuan period, this inland canal transport was often expensive and inefficient, and consequently, the majority of grain supplies were transported to the capital by sea rather than through the canal system.1