Old photos of the Great Wall at Xifengkou
1.
Xifengkou, in the past, was famous for the Great Wall War of Resistance, and now it is attracting the attention of the world because of the Underwater Great Wall.
In the past two days, the media has been talking about the discovery of carved stone tablets in Xifengkou, including Xinhua News Agency.
Prior to this, when chatting with Mr. Zhang Lixin, deputy director of the Kuancheng County Tourism, Culture, Radio, Film and Television Bureau, he once talked about this matter, he said that when repairing the Xifengkou Great Wall, the workers found it in the soil, and after he got the news, he quickly let people protect it.
In fact, there is another reason for this, which is that it is afraid of being taken away by neighboring counties after getting the news. Because the Great Wall is the dividing line between the two places, Qianxi said that Xifengkou was moved to the west, and Kuancheng said that Xifengkou was Kuancheng, and whoever took this monument was whoever took it.
The stele is about 60 centimeters wide and 100 centimeters high, and because it has been buried in the soil for a long time, it is well preserved and well-written. The inscription reads to the effect that in the fourth month of the lunar calendar in 1569, Ten civil and military officials, including Tan Lun, Liu Yingjie, Fang Nan, Zhou Yijing, Yang Jin, and Qi Jiguang, supervised the construction of the Great Wall-related defense projects, and recorded the positions and names of local officials responsible for dispatching, managing repairs, and construction.
Stone stele part Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Min photography
He also sent me the full text of the stele:
In the third year of Longqing, Xia Mengzhiji, viceroy Ji, Liao, Baoding and other departments of military affairs and grain and food and military department left shilang and inspectorate of the right capital Yushi Yi Huang Tanlun, the whole Jizhou and other places border preparation and inspector of Shuntian and other local inspectorates of the right yushi Wei County Liu Yingjie, the inspector of the directly subordinate inspector Yushi Ruyang Fangnan, the inspector directly subordinate to the inspector Yushi Shang rao Zhou Yijing, the rectification of Jizhou and other places local military preparation Shanxi cloth political envoy division right suffragette and according to the inspection division of the Yidu Yang Jin, the prime minister's military training affairs and town shou Jizhou, Yongping, Shanhai and other local military officers zhongjun du du right governor Fengyang Qi Jiguang, assistant guard Jizhou East Road branch training affairs deputy chief officer office all command you shi Ju Rong Hu Shouren, sub-guard Taiping Zhai and other local staff generals all commanded You Shi Fengyang Luorui, the former guerrilla general Dingzhou Gao Tingxiang, garrison Daxi Fengkou local inspection and release of Yidu people command tongzhi Jiang du Wang Lu, supervise Xingzhou former tun wei experience Zhao Sheng, Fengrun County dian shi Lü Zixian, dispatch committee officer Liu Zhen Guan Xiu Lu Lu Guan Xiu Lu Zi Tai Tai committee officer Sun YingKui Miao Ru Ding Jian.
When the media released the news, it was particularly emphasized that this stone stele confirmed Qi Jiguang's ancestral hometown - Fengyang, Anhui, because in the current historical materials, most of them said that he was a native of Dengzhou, Shandong, and when introducing his ancestral home, it was said that Qi Jiguang's sixth ancestor Qi Qi was a native of Dingyuan, Anhui, who fought with Zhu Yuanzhang and died in battle in Yunnan around 1382. Passed down from generation to generation, until Qi Jiguang's father continued to inherit the ancestral office, in 1528, Qi Jiguang was born, and in 1544, Qi Jiguang's father died, and Qi Jiguang succeeded him.
There is a tradition in China's succession, so when you go to some units, you must be careful when you speak and do things, and many people have complicated relationships with their children and grandchildren.
Whether Qi Jiguang's ancestral home is Fengyang or Dingyuan, experts will investigate it.
The meaning of the inscription is that in April of the third year of Longqing (1569), the flowers bloomed in the depths of Yanshan Mountain, the Luan River was in the dry season, and the Xifengkou Great Wall was completed. Tan Lun, a deputy ministerial-level cadre, led a group of supervision cadres to carry out acceptance inspection, and after the acceptance was completed, the inscription was engraved to remember it.
What I pay attention to is the time, that is, the third year of Longqing, 1569 AD.
At this time, Qi Jiguang hesitated and was full of ambition: It is not my intention to be a marquis, but I hope that Hai Boping will be flat.
But only 60 years later, the Xifengkou Great Wall was broken by the Emperor Taiji. As a result, the Later Jin forces entered the customs for the first time, occupied Zunhua, and entered Beijing, which opened a war of annihilation like a devastating and decaying ming.
Emperor Taiji entered the customs this time, and history called it the change of his own.
From the copper wall to the destruction of the decay, it only took sixty years, in these sixty years, what happened to the Great Wall?
The reasons here are worth pondering.
Old photo: Xifengkou Great Wall
2.
China has a long history, but the northern border problem has never been solved, the so-called "three emperors do not rule, the five emperors do not obey", starting from the Eastern Zhou states, successive rulers of the Central Plains and the northern ethnic minorities have been fighting and talking, and so many national heroes have emerged, including Wei Qing, Huo Qi, Qi Jiguang, etc., but in the end it is still to strengthen the defense - to repair the city garrison.
Qi Jiguang dragged down Daming's finances, but also repaired the Great Wall to the extreme.
So, was the Xifengkou Great Wall built in the third year of Longqing (1569)?
Of course not, there is also such a record in the "Chronicle of Kuancheng County":
In the first month of 1381 (the fourteenth year of Taizu Hongwu), the general Xu Dafa Yanshan and other guards were 15,000 people, and Xiu Yongping (present-day Lulong), Jieling, and Xifengkou were 32 passes.
At this time, it was 188 years earlier than the year 1569 recorded in the stele.
The "Yearbook of the Great Wall of China" says that the Great Wall in Kuancheng was built from the second year of Hongwu, more than 200 years before Qi Jiguang built it.
The Ming Dynasty called the Great Wall "Border Wall", and the harassment outside the wall continued continuously until Longqing transferred Qi Jiguang from the south in the first year of the year:
In the third year of Longqing, the Three Guards suddenly attacked Dongjiakou, but the handsome minister Qi Jiguang did not.
Dongjiakou is still far from Xifengkou, but it should be at this time that Qi Jiguang, as a prominent military expert, discovered that the quality of the Xifengkou Great Wall had problems, so he applied for funds to repair, and in the next few years after the restoration, Xifengkou has been the focus of the attack of ethnic minorities outside the Great Wall:
In the spring of 1573 (the first year of the Wanli calendar of Emperor Shenzong), Duoyan WeiDong Fox and his brother Chang Ang rebelled, attacked Xifengkou, claimed no compensation, and wantonly killed and plundered The Guards to lure the officers and troops. Qi Jiguang covered up, and Dong Fox was captured.
In 1574 (the second year of the Wanli Dynasty of Emperor Shenzong), Duoyan Wei Changang attacked XifengKou, and Qi Jiguang led his troops out of Qingshan Pass and cut his back road, and Chang'ang was defeated and retreated.
In the first month of 1575 (the third year of the Shenzong Wanli Calendar), Chang Ang attacked Dongjiakou, and the prime minister Qi Jiguang sent troops to Yuzhi. Chang Ang's uncle Chang Bald was captured.
In February 1595 (the twenty-third year of the Shenzong Wanli Calendar), Chang Ang was indignant and led more than a thousand horses to attack the Trojan Valley of Shimen Road (in present-day Panshan, Jixian County). Fu ordered Xiao Lang'er to sneak into the Xifeng Pass, and Xiao Lang'er was captured.
Xifengkou, for nearly sixty years, especially during Qi Jiguang's tenure, has not been breached.
Data image: Xifengkou of the Underwater Great Wall
3.
Emperor Zhu Di of the Ming Dynasty moved the capital to Beijing, with the aim of settling tianzi and solving the northern border problem. The Qing Dynasty Yi Dynasty compiled a "Qifu Tongzhi", which detailed various situations around Beijing, describing Xifengkou in this way:
Xifengkou Pass is one hundred and seventy miles northwest of Qian'an County, seventy miles southwest of Zunhua Prefecture, and five miles southeast of Xifengkou City, wednesday. There are distant buildings at the pass, which can accommodate tens of thousands of people. Ming was often stationed and guarded, and was the important place of Jizhen.
That is to say, Xifengkou is not an independent pass, but a defensive system, and in the records of the "Kifu Tongzhi", there are linden Yu pass in the northeast of Xifengkou, Songting Pass in the southwest, and iron gate pass in the southwest.
How did such a solid defense system become a breakthrough in the Ming, Qing, and Yi dynasties?
It's people who can't do it.
Emperor Tai Chi
4.
In the Ming Dynasty's defense against the Invasion of Later Jin, compared with the Shanhaiguan Defense Line, Jimen Pass in Xifengkou and other places was not the focus of defense, because jizhen was an area ruled by the Mongols, not directly facing Houjin.
But Yuan Chonghuan, the general who guarded Liaodong, already had a sense of crisis, and what he was most worried about was here.
On May 16 of the second year of Chongzhen, he went to the Military Affairs Department of the Bureau of Officials to present the "Qin Order out of the Town Border Inspector Ji Liao and Other Places of the Military Department Shangshu Minister Yuan Chonghuan Titled Begging redundant officials to relieve the use of the country and other matters":
"But Ji Men Lingjing shouldered his back, and the strength of the troops was not increased." In case of a guide and slavery, there will be unknowable disasters. ”
Yuan Chonghuan's concern also stemmed from the fact that not long ago, the Ming Dynasty had just carried out disarmament in Jizhen, many soldiers had been laid off, and a large number of soldiers who remained were also resentful, and combat effectiveness and loyalty were difficult to guarantee. At this time, if the Houjin army attacked, Jizhen had no ability to resist at all.
Volume II of the Chongzhen Records also records Yuan Chonghuan's worries: "In September, Yuan Chonghuan wanted to go west with a Qing army, and first asked the stationed in Ningyuan to close the door, and then sent the general Xie Shangzheng and others to prepare. Shuntian Inspector Du Yushi Wang Yuan Ya Yue: This false alarm ear. Send them all back, and the results of the teacher will not come out. ”
"The Later Collection of The Book of Shi Kui": Chonghuan followed: "The subject shou Ningyuan, Kou was created by the subject, and he never dared to invade the subject's realm." Only Zunhua is weak in defending all the way, and it is advisable to set up a regiment to train the general soldiers there'. So I took Wang Wei as a request. The bingbu impeached Wang Weixin as a subordinate, refused to give it immediately, and left it difficult to move."
As a result, in October 1629 (the second year of Ming Chongzhen and the third year of Later Jin Tiancong), Emperor Taiji took the Mongolian route, with mongols as the guide, personally led the Eight Banners army, avoided the Guanningjin defense line, detoured the Mongolian region, and raided the Jizhen defense area. After the Jin army did not encounter decent resistance in Jizhen, where "the walls of the cyprus were decadent and the army was in ruins", it successfully broke through the wall and entered the blockade and pushed straight into Beijing.
Breaking the wall into the plug, what was broken was the Xifeng Pass built by Qi Jiguang recorded on this stone stele.
5.
In fact, Huang Taiji's entry into the customs this time solved two main problems.
One was to form an alliance with the Mongol departments, and only then did it break through the Great Wall defense line five to six times, directly beating the northern defense line of Daming into a sieve.
The other was to use the anti-plot to get rid of Yuan Chonghuan, which was considered by the later Liang Qichao to be a "self-destructive Great Wall".
The so-called everything is difficult at the beginning, and once the matter has begun, the next is not difficult.
After the change, the Qing army entered the Great Wall five times, two of which hit the city of Beijing, and the farthest one invaded Jinan, Shandong, and all of them returned with a large-scale plunder.
For example, in May of the ninth year of Chongzhen (1636), Emperor Taiji invaded the Great Wall for the second time and ravaged Gyeonggi, which lasted more than four months. In the same year, the Qing army entered the fortress for the third time, and Liang Tingdong, the governor of Xuanda, and Zhang Fengyi, the head of the army, had no soldiers and no pay, knew that they would not be able to escape the death penalty, and took rhubarb every day to ask for death.
In the third year of Chongde (Chongzhen eleventh year, 1638), the Qing army entered the fortress for the fourth time, and Lu Xiangsheng fought desperately and finally died.
During the Chongzhen period, the Ming court was always at peace and uncertain, and was caught in a dilemma of two-sided warfare between the Qing army and the Liukou.
In the twelfth year of Chongzhen (1639), Hong Chengzu was ordered to guard the border of Jiliao, giving Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong the opportunity to rise to the top. In March of the thirteenth year of Chongzhen (1640), Hong Chengyu was captured by the Qing army after his defeat at the Battle of Songjin, and on the third day of October in the sixteenth year of Chongzhen (1643), Sun Chuanting's department was annihilated by Li Zicheng's department.
6.
There is a book called "The Pain of the Empire in 1644", which is about the fall of the Ming Dynasty.
In fact, the most painful in the entire Ming Dynasty was Yuan Chonghuan.
The change of his own body, Huang Taiji's most proud hand was to use a plan to get rid of his confidant Yuan Chonghuan.
Emperor Taiji led his troops to the city of Beijing, and with a little trick, imitating "Jiang Gan's theft of books", he made Yuan Chonghuan a traitor in Chongzhen's eyes.
The "Ming Dynasty Northern Sketch" records two details about Yuan Chonghuan's suffering, which makes people feel a lot of emotions.
First, when Yuan Chonghuan was late to the "skin and flesh have been exhausted", he had not yet stopped breathing, and "the cries between the heart and lungs were endless";
Second, "The people will buy a piece of silver and a piece of meat, as big as a finger." When you eat, you will scold, and you will be scolded, and the chonghuan meat will be sold out."
Yuan Chonghuan, a dongguan native, is short in stature and loyal, but he has been "slashed with a thousand knives", which is also a strange injustice through the ages, which is sighing.
After Mr. Jin Yong wrote "The Green Blood Sword", he specially had the "Commentary on Yuan Chonghuan" attached:
Yuan Chonghuan is really like a tragic hero of ancient Greece, he has great courage, the courage to fight the enemy, the courage to be moral. His soaring vigor, stubborn brute force, and fierce fierceness were doubly prominent in the obscene and withered court of the late Ming Dynasty at that time.
A lifetime of career is empty, and half a lifetime of merit is in a dream.
After death, there is no fear of brave generals, and loyal souls still guard Liaodong.
——Yuan Chonghuan's last words before his execution
A few years later, Kang Youwei wrote a couplet for the Yuan Chonghuan Memorial:
Since the Great Wall is nostalgic for the present and the present, it will always remain resolute and strong.
The Great Wall has never been a wall, but Qi Jiguang, Yuan Chonghuan,
Even the summer resort of the Qing Dynasty.