Anyang City, Henan Province, is located at the junction of the two provinces of Hebei and Henan, its urban area has the Anyang River (ancient name Huanshui) in the north, the Tangshui and Weihe Rivers in the east, and the majestic Taihang Mountains in the west, its geographical location can be described as extremely dangerous, the Western Jin Dynasty literary scholar Zuo Si "Wei Dufu" described it as follows: Open chest Yin Wei, cross Yan Zhao, mountains and forests, Chuanze Huiji. It vividly illustrates the topographical characteristics of the Anyang area. The Qing Dynasty Gu Zuyu's "Minutes of Reading the History of Fang Public Opinion" describes the Zhangde Mansion at that time and today's Anyang: "The mountains and rivers of Fu are majestic, the original is flat, according to the throat of Hebei, the waist of the world." "It is also from a macro point of view to explain the importance of Anyang in the country."
The topographic map of the Anyang area fully demonstrates the importance of geographical location
Such a throat north of the Yellow River and the backbone of the world need a majestic city to guard for it, in order to maximize the geographical advantages. The city of Anyang was founded in the Northern Wei Dynasty, of course, the size and shape of the city wall at that time are no longer available, but it is conceivable that the first year of the Northern Wei Tianxing (398) was the first year when the founding emperor Tuoba Jue moved the capital Pingcheng (present-day Datong City, Shanxi Province) to be officially called emperor, and it was also the time when he began to pass through Hebei and dominate Northern China after the Great Destruction of Later Yan, and the city built at this throat location must be to serve the military, and it must be very strong.
The city of Anyang during the Northern Wei Dynasty
However, the construction of Anyang City is accurately recorded in the third year (1006) of Jingde of the Northern Song Dynasty, which added to the city, and the surrounding area was as long as nineteen miles. During the Jingde period of Emperor Zhenzong of Song, it was the most frequent period of intrusion by Liao soldiers from the south. In the middle of the road, Kaifeng Province went north to the Daming Mansion in Beijing, and Emperor Zhenzong personally marched in the first year of Jingde, and finally reached the "Alliance of Yuanyuan", in exchange for a relatively long-term peace. In order to prevent the Liao soldiers from violating the covenant, Xiangzhou (Anyang) on the western route of the Liao soldiers to the south took advantage of the peacetime to expand the city.
Xiangzhou and Anyang of the Song Dynasty
The situation in the early years of the Ming Dynasty Hongwu was similar to that of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Ming army just attacked today's Henan, Hongwu first year (1368) in May set up Zhongshu Province in Kaifeng, also known as Henan Province, set up Kaifeng, Henan, Runing, Nanyang, Huaiqing, Weihui, Zhangde 7 Provinces and Xinyang Zhili Prefecture, in addition to just capturing Yuan Zhongshu Province and set up Baoding Province, Hejian Province, Zhending Province, Guangping Province, Shunde Province, Daming Province also belonged to Henan Province, which was the largest period in Henan Province, which was the largest period in Henan Province. At this time, the northern front of the Ming Dynasty and the Northern Song Dynasty were not too different, and they always had to face the counterattack of the Mongolian Yuan, and the importance of Anyang in the defense of Hebei was self-evident, so the construction of the city in the early years of Hongwu was extremely solid, according to kangxi's "Anyang County Chronicle" "City Pool" record:
Zhangde Province of the Ming Dynasty
Ming Hongwu was first rebuilt, encircling nine miles and 113 steps, cutting half of the old city, two feet high and five feet high, two feet thick, and the outer bricks and inner soil. Gate four, east Yonghe, south Yue Zhenyuan, west Daying, north Gongchen, the door each built buildings, and built four corner towers, forty enemy buildings, sixty police shops have three.
Qianlong three years of Anyang City
In this construction of the Ming Dynasty, the city wall was built into a brick city that was rare in the north at that time, and there were towers for observation and defense on the four gates of the city, and the city wall also had corner towers, enemy towers, and shops for tun soldiers and defense, of which the number of shops was 63, and the number of tun soldiers was extremely large.
Later, based on the ming dynasty city wall, several reconstructions and repairs were carried out during the Ming and Qing dynasties, namely the reconstruction of the thirteenth year of Ming Chenghua's prefect Cao Zhengzhuang, the sixteenth year of the Kangxi Dynasty's kangxi prefect Qiu Zongying, the fifty-second year of Kangxi Zhixian Xu Shumin's reconstruction of the north city tower destroyed by fire, the seventh year of Yongzheng Zhixian Li Zhangxu's reconstruction of the second floor of the east and west city and the repair of the four sides of the city wall in seven years.
Anyang City during the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty
In addition, there is a moat outside the city wall that is "ten meters wide and two meters deep", but because of "the age has been silted up, only the moat traces remain", after Chen Xirui of Qianlong Second ZhiXian picked the four city rivers, "the width of the face is five zhang, the bottom width is three zhang, the depth is five feet, and the Width of the Yongcheng River is three zhang".
In the twenty-first year of the Republic of China (1932), the Northwest Gate was opened, named Xin'anmen with the meaning of "prosperity and convenient transportation, construction of new Anyang", so that Anyang City had five gates, named North Gate Gongchen, South Gate Zhenyuan, East Gate Yonghe, West Gate Dading, Xin'an Gate.
The Northwest Xinanmen Gate was built during the Republic of China period
It is precisely because of Anyang's geographical advantages that it has been repeatedly destroyed in successive wars, especially in the War of Resistance Against Japan, Anyang, because it is a transportation hub connecting southern Hebei, northern Henan and Jiluyu District, there are about 7,000 Japanese puppet troops entrenched here, the Japanese army's independent mixed 1st Brigade regiment is stationed in Anyang City, the puppet army Li Yingbu and others are guarding the periphery, and overhauling the bunker stronghold.
The People's Liberation Army opened the breakthrough of the western city wall of Anyang with artillery fire
In order to liberate and consolidate the vast area west of Pinghan Road and north of Hebi, the Taihang Military Region of the Eighth Route Army concentrated the strength of the main forces of 5 military sub-districts and a total of 9 regiments of the Eighth Route Army Headquarters Guard Regiment to form 3 detachments, and with the cooperation of more than 30,000 militia and self-defense forces, launched the Anyang Campaign on June 30. On July 7, the battle ended in victory, and the Eighth Route Army killed and wounded more than 800 Japanese puppet troops, expanded the liberated area by more than 1,500 square kilometers, liberated a population of 350,000, and connected the Jinji-Hebei-Yu anti-Japanese base area and the Jiluyu anti-Japanese base area.
Anyang City during the Republic of China period
Due to the destruction of the war, many parts of the Anyang city wall are ruins and broken walls, after the founding of New China, the city wall has become one of the factors restricting the development of the city, in order to develop the economy and improve traffic conditions, the Anyang city wall began to be demolished in January 1951, some of the materials of the city wall were used for the foundation of the Cultural Palace, and many city bricks were used as building materials by residents. By August, the entire city wall had been basically demolished, except for the five gates and four gates and seven forts. Later, the remaining remains of the city wall slowly disappeared with the passage of time. Today, there are only two corners of the city in the southwest and southeast, which can also allow people today to faintly see a trace of the old Xiongcheng City.
In the 1970s, the outline of Anyang City was generously tolerated, and it was still relatively clear
If you count from the first year of the Northern Wei Dynasty, to the time when the city wall disappeared, Anyang has a history of more than 1500 years, even if there is a precise record of Jingde three years of calculation, there is a history of nearly a thousand years, although in history Anyang has a majestic city, but now it has become invisible to everyone, can't help but sigh.
Do you know that this is the case, welcome to discuss at the bottom of the article.