The Yellow River, with a total length of about 5464 kilometers, is the fifth longest river in the world, the second longest river in China, and also the mother river in China, the history of the Yellow River is quite long, from the third to the fourth period of the ancient century has begun to be generated, but the mother river we want to count is from the beginning of China's first dynasty, the Xia Dynasty.
From the beginning of the Xia Shang Zhou, successive dynasties took the Central Plains as a concept, respectively, in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River to establish dynasties, until the Ming Dynasty moved the capital to the north, the Yellow River during this period is also pregnant with thousands of years of Chinese civilization, so it is called the Mother River, because successive dynasties have chosen to establish a capital city in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, some cultural relics or sites emerge in an endless stream.
In 1989, Yongji City, Shanxi Province, Gupuzhou City, the west gate of the Yellow River excavated 4 iron cows, 4 iron men, a group of seven-star iron pillars and three earth and stone ramming piles, presumably many people are no strangers to the "Yellow River Iron Bull", the textbook said that the iron bull is them.
The Yellow River iron bull was cast in the thirteenth year of Tang Kaiyuan (725), which was cast in order to stabilize the Pujin pontoon bridge and maintain the traffic of Qin and Jin, the iron bull in addition to fixing the rope bridge, there are many roles, in the "I Ching": "cow elephant kun, kun for the soil, soil wins the water", the ancient saying has clouds: soldiers will block, water will cover the soil.
The ancients placed the iron bull on the riverbank, but also for the wanton flooding of the Yellow River water, a kind of deterrence, the ancients sustenance of the iron cow can conquer the flood, benefit the people, the ancestors also pay attention to the yin and yang opposite, so when casting the iron cow, and cast four iron men, seven star iron pillar, seven star pillar represents the layout of the big dipper seven stars, so that the heavens and the earth are complete.
The advent of these four iron bulls also represents the Tang Kaiyuan years, bridges, metallurgy, sculpture technology have reached a peak period, while the ancients are also quite research on astronomical geography, but at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the bridge was destroyed, the iron bull was also used for a long time, coupled with the diversion of the Yellow River, the sediment gradually submerged it.
In the 1940s, when the Yellow River was dry, the water could still touch the horns, and the boat was also scratched to the bottom of the boat, after the 1950s, the Sanmenxia flood storage, the river moved west, the iron cow has been buried deep in the remaining 2 meters of silt under the surface of the Yellow River, so many years the iron cow is still there.
The main reason is that it is too heavy, the weight of the four iron bulls is different, respectively, between 45 tons and 72 tons, such a heavy iron bull even if the flood can not be washed away, it has really become the "Zhenhe Iron Bull", the iron bull has seen the light of day, but the protection work is very difficult.
Such a heavy iron bull, without a large machine can not be pulled away, but in the process of pulling will it cause damage? Once there is damage, it is unbearable for the archaeological community, and after several debates, the relevant departments intend to protect it on the spot, and raise the iron bull 12.2 meters from the spot to be displayed in the open air.
But how to protect iron cultural relics and how to prevent it from rusting, this problem has not been solved.