According to legend, during Emperor Yao's time, the flood became a disaster and the people of the world were in deep distress. Emperor Yao ordered Yu's father Gun to treat the flood. Gun led the people to build the dam and repair the weir. It took nine years of work and failed to control the flood. Therefore, he was punished by exile in Yushan (now southeast of Penglai, Shandong). There are also classics that Gun was killed in Yushan. After Shun succeeded to the throne, floods were still a major disaster in the world, and he ordered Yu, who had become the leader of the Xia tribe, to continue to control the floods. Yu Xinran took the lead, but did not act rashly. Instead, he first conscientiously summarized the lessons of his predecessors in water control and sought out the reasons for the failure of water control. Then, led a group of loyal assistants such as Boyi and Hou Ji to travel through mountains and rivers, brave the wind and rain to conduct surveys in severely flooded areas, understand the mountains and rivers, find out the flow and trend of floods, and formulate a unified water control plan. Large-scale water control work. In view of the fact that his predecessors failed to control the water mainly because they did not make the best use of the flow laws, he only used the method of "falling high weirs" ("Mandarin·Zhou Yuxia") to build dykes and block them. Once the flood broke through the dam, he would give up his previous lessons and boldly change the lesson. Use a new method that combines dredging and barriers. According to "Guoyu·Zhouyu", it is to follow the sky and the earth, cultivate the soil at high level, dredge at low level, form ditches and rivers, remove obstructions, open mountains and dig canals, and clear waterways. After thirteen years, the floods were finally filled and the river was dredged, allowing water to flow from the ground to the sea through lakes and rivers, effectively curbing the flood.

　　Great Yu succeeded in controlling the waters. In addition to adopting the correct method, another important reason was that he was dedicated to his public, endured hardships and stood hard work, took the lead, feared hardships and dangers, and had the spirit of perseverance. "Han Feizi · Five Beetles" records that Dayu "holds a hammer in his hand and puts the people first." That is to say, he took the water control tool in his hand and participated in the labor himself, and made a good appearance for the people who participated in the water control. Legend has it that in order to accomplish the important task of water control, Dayu married Tushannv and left home for four days. After 13 years away, he never returned home. Dayu's flood control "three times without entering the house" has become a good story that has been circulated through the ages. Because he has been running around all the year round, his skin is thin, his skin is tanned, his hands are covered with calluses, the soles of his feet are covered with blood blisters, the hairs on his legs are polished, and even the hairpins and hats that are tied up can’t be taken care of. pack. The common people shed tears when they saw it. There are still many moving stories about Yu's flood control in the Songshan area. According to legend, when Dayu ruled the waters, he had to create a channel for dredging and discharging the water at Xuanyuan Mountain between Taishi Mountain and Shaoshi Mountain. He didn't care about going home, so his wife, Tu Shan, agreed to take the drums as the horn to bring food to the mountain. In order to speed up the speed of digging the mountain, he turned into a big black bear with incredible power, even pushing and picking, and quickly digging out most of the mountain. When I was working hard, a rock that had split a mountain accidentally touched the skin drum, and Yu's wife heard the sound of the drum and hurriedly started cooking.