Yellow River Pontoon Bridge To Investigate Smuggling:
The Lanzhou anti-smuggling official sued the imperial horse, and Zhu Yuanzhang thoroughly investigated the horse and lost his life
The Lanzhou section is the most elite section of the upper reaches of the Yellow River. Lanzhou is also the only provincial capital through which the Yellow River flows. The most famous bridge in the Lanzhou section of the Yellow River is the Zhongshan Iron Bridge, and before it was the Zhenyuan Pontoon Bridge.
Today, the pontoon bridge, which has lasted for hundreds of years, has long been replaced by a permanent iron bridge. But the general's column still stands by the river and watches the tide rise and fall.
What exactly was the Zhenyuan Pontoon Bridge built? Why would the young officials who once guarded the Yellow River Bridge sue the horse? What serious crime did the famous pawn horse commit and be killed by Zhu Yuanzhang?
1. Yellow River pontoon bridge
Lanzhou was an important town on the Silk Road, but due to the barrier of the Yellow River, it was difficult to cross the river since ancient times. There was once a folk song that said: "The Yellow River harms the Yellow River dangerously, LingHong cannot cross, it is difficult to cross the river, it is difficult to cross the river, the river is like the next day, and crossing the river is like crossing the ghost gate." ”
Building bridges on the Yellow River is a wish of the people on both sides of the strait since ancient times. However, the Yellow River is turbulent, and it is not easy to build bridges. Throughout the ancient pontoon bridges erected on the Yellow River, most of them were erected by the government out of military needs, and the stage of such pontoon bridges was very strong.
On holidays, from the Xiguan Cross to the Baita Mountain section, there are always crowds of people, bustling, and those tourists who come from the south to the north highlight the charm of the city. In fact, for hundreds of years, this period has been so busy and complicated. This, of course, is due to bridges.
The bridge in the Lanzhou section of the Yellow River has a long history, as early as the Tang Dynasty, people built Guangwu Liang in the area of the Xigu River estuary today, but unfortunately the shape of this bridge is no longer known today. In the Song Dynasty, in the fourth year of the Song Dynasty (1097), the Song army recaptured Lanzhou, built the northern city of Lanzhou, repaired the Jincheng Pass, and erected a pontoon bridge under the pass, but this time the pontoon bridge was built for military needs. The oldest pontoon bridge is the Ming Dynasty Zhenyuan Pontoon Bridge.
In the fifth year of Hongwu of the Ming Dynasty (1372 AD), Xu Da and Feng Sheng led an army to pursue the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty. After the Ming army eliminated Wang Baobao's main force at Dingxi. In order to cross the river to pursue the remnants of the Yuan army, Zhao Xiang, the commander of the Imperial Guard, built a pontoon bridge seven miles west of Lanzhou City. After Feng Sheng regained the Hexi Corridor, the pontoon bridge also lost its military value.
With the operation of the Ming Dynasty, the population and economy of the northwest region gradually began to recover, and the demand for transportation was also increasing. Due to the need to transport various materials to the Hexi Corridor, the Jiaochang River, the shore gate, the hollow pier and other ferries in the Yellow River section of Lanzhou have also been opened. However, in order to supply tens of thousands of troops with grain and grass, it is not enough to rely solely on ferries, and bridges must be built to meet the needs of military transportation.
In the eighth year of Hongwu, Deng Yu, the Duke of Weiguo, moved the pontoon bridge to a place ten miles west of the city. In the seventeenth year of Hongwu, Lanzhou Wei commanded inspector Yang Lian to move the Yellow River Pontoon Bridge to the lower side of Baita Mountain in the north of Lanzhou City, near the Zhongshan Bridge they see today. The Yellow River pontoon bridge was officially named "Zhenyuan Bridge", known as "the first bridge in the world".
There is also a folk tale about the construction of the Yellow River pontoon bridge. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang sent Deng Yu, the Duke of Weiguo, to command a large army and attack the Yuan general Wang Baobao. Deng Yu led an army to capture Lanzhou, but was blocked by the Yellow River. The military situation was urgent, and Deng Yue pondered and could not find a way to cross the river. Three days a day, he couldn't sleep, and went to the Yellow River to have a look. At this time, he suddenly found that there were 24 wooden boats floating on the Yellow River, and the general came to the inspiration, and did not connect these 24 boats to become a pontoon bridge? The general said to himself, "I don't know where this ship came from, can I borrow it from him?" Who knew that there was a voice in the Yellow River: "Three more borrowed, five more returned." Therefore, Deng Yu ordered people to forge general columns on both sides of the strait according to the distribution direction of large ships, pull iron chains, and erect pontoon bridges. But three more borrowed five more, how can this period of time be enough for the army to cross the river?
Wei Guogong was very embarrassed, and at this time someone gave the general a plan. Therefore, the general ordered that he would not be allowed to fight five times in the future. In this way, the pontoon bridge was used until the end of the Qing Dynasty. On the first night of the completion of the iron bridge, people were very excited, and the husband also drank some wine, confused, but when it came to the fifth change, he hit the five more, and as a result, the 24 wooden boats in the Yellow River brushed and slid away. In the process of these sacred boats floating in the river, one of the boats ran aground on the river beach east of the city and could not float. Later, people called this place a boat, and legend has it that a boat came from this way.
Some people have verified that a boat came from this way: a boat with a righteous garden was built by Zuo Zongtang for the soldiers of the Xiang Army who died in battle. The terrain there is low-lying, and the wall built around the garden resembles a boat, so people call it a boat.
In fact, the erection of the Zhenyuan pontoon bridge is very difficult, first of all, people poured four iron pillars weighing 10,000 kilograms on both sides of the Yellow River, set up 45 huge wooden pillars, and two iron chains with a length of 120 zhang. The purpose of this is to increase the stability of the pontoon.
Pontoon bridges are generally erected after the ice is dissolved. At one time, hundreds of manpower were mobilized, according to the division of labor, either on board or on shore. People first pulled the rope in a wooden boat, went down the river, and when they reached the predetermined position, they threw the large basket filled with stones on the boat into the river, stabilized the hull, and tied the boat to the chain. In this way, the wooden boats were tied in turn, and the number of wooden boats was initially 25, but later changed, about 22. Then lay out the planks.
The management of the pontoon bridge was initially managed exclusively by Lanzhou Tongzhi, and later under the management of the main book of Gaolan County. A patrol team of 12 sailors was set up to be responsible for the safety of the pontoon bridge.
Today, people can still see the only remaining "General Pillar" at the head of the Zhongshan Bridge, in the eyes of many people, the "General Pillar" is only a large pillar used to tie the iron chain, but few people know that the "General Pillar" has another function, and to determine the water level, for the downstream flood control forecast and early warning. This is what the ancients called "sheep newspaper".
According to legend, every summer people pay great attention to the scale on the general pillar on the yellow river, if the yellow river water rises an inch on the general column, then the water in henan in the lower reaches of the Yellow River will rise by one inch. At this moment, people had to hire a warrior, tie him a sheepskin tire used to tie the raft, and then bring a water sign issued by the local government of Lanzhou, as well as warning signs and food for the flooding of the Yellow River. When everything was ready, the warrior jumped into the Yellow River, drifting downstream with the current, which may be the original Yellow River drifting.
2. Smuggling of donkeys and horses was seized on the pontoon bridge of the Yellow River
The TV series "Legendary Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang" has created a legendary Emperor Daming. The audience in Lanzhou may not know that in the last years of Hongwu, There was a legendary case related to Zhu Yuanzhang in Lanzhou.
This major case began with the beating of an unnamed young official of the Yellow River Bridge Inspection Department in Lan County, and ended with the death of Ouyang Lun, a donkey horse, involving Zhu Yuanzhang, Empress Ma, Princess Anqing, Ouyang Lun and many other figures, which had a great impact at that time.
The matter was caused by Ouyang Lun. He was the husband of Princess Anqing. Among Zhu Yuanzhang's children, Princess Anqing is an incredible figure, and among Zhu Yuanzhang's many children, Princess Anqing is the most liked by Empress Ma. Empress Ma gave birth to two daughters, of which Princess Anqing was the most intelligent and clever, so she was deeply doted on by Empress Ma. In the fourteenth year of Hongwu (1381), Princess Anqing married Ouyang Lun.
With the father-in-law who became the emperor, the wife he married was Empress Ma's favorite daughter. Ouyang Lun's big tree is cool under the tree, and in the official field, it is necessary to get the wind and the rain to get the rain, which can be described as a flat step.
Sometimes good things become bad things. At the instigation of the people, Ouyang Lun became an lawless, arrogant, and insatiable person, who openly instructed his family to engage in the "business" of smuggling tea, and finally provoked the disaster of killing himself.
Tea was the material of the export embargo at that time. Since tea can help digest and reduce the oiliness in meat, ethnic minorities cannot live without tea. Tea has long been used as a strategic material controlled by the central government to exchange horses for ethnic minorities on the Tibetan Plateau. The tea horse trade has become an important means for the central government to control the local power of ethnic minorities. The central government of the Ming Dynasty often clashed with various tribes in the northern Mongolian plateau, and the main direction of the tea horse trade was the various ethnic minority tribes in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the western region.
Because tea has a very large role in the national strategy, Zhu Yuanzhang stipulates that no one can smuggle tea, and if someone smuggles tea out of the country, he will be punished with a felony.
Under such circumstances, Ouyang Lun still instructed his family to smuggle and traffic tea for huge profits. Zhu Yuanzhang reigned for 31 years, and the year when Ouyang Lun smuggled tea was revealed was the thirtieth year of Hongwu (1398).
Folklore about this matter is as follows: In the last years of Hongwu, Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang received many reports that private tea exports from Shaanxi and Sichuan were rampant, and private tea traders were full of private pockets, but the tea income of the imperial court was deteriorating. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang sent Ouyang Lun, a donkey, to Sichuan, Shaanxi and other places to investigate the problem of tea smuggling. However, he did not expect that the horse he had sent to supervise the smuggling of tea was actually the smuggling leader.
In the Ming Dynasty, Gansu came under the jurisdiction of the Shaanxi Cloth Administration Division, which was then called Lan County, and was under the jurisdiction of Lintao Province under the Shaanxi Cloth Administration Division. After Ouyang Lun arrived in Shaanxi, he was warmly welcomed by the feudal officials. For such a pony, many people are willing to welcome, after all, it is a figure with a head. When Ouyang Lun was supervising the problem of tea smuggling, he saw that the smuggling of tea out of the country made amazing profits. Therefore, Ouyang Lun instructed the housekeeper Zhou Bao to increase the smuggling of tea. Because Ouyang Lun flew high and low on weekdays, coupled with the special status of a donkey horse, many departments did not dare to inquire about his smuggling of tea, and shaanxi envoys and others also took the opportunity to "open the green light" for his subordinates, allow him to pass, and provide various conveniences such as tea transport vehicles.
3. The wrath of the petty officer
With the protection of officials at all levels, the business of smuggling tea by donkey horses went smoothly. This further encourages the arrogance of the pack horse. And Zhou Bao, the housekeeper of the Horse Palace who served as the "leader" of the smuggling tea team, was even more for the tiger, grabbing and dispatching cars at will, and the people along the way were miserable.
One day, a smuggling convoy passed by the Yellow River Pontoon Bridge in Lan County, and it was customary that all the convoys crossing the bridge had to pass through inspection. In the Ming Dynasty, Lanzhou was actually an important frontier town, undertaking the supply of grain and wages for the soldiers of the Western Shubian, and Lanzhou was also a commodity distribution center in the northwest, its importance was self-evident, and the River Bridge Inspection Department guarding the Yellow River Bridge also had a similar role as the "customs" of later generations.
Zhou Bao, the horse's butler, came to the Yellow River Bridge with a smuggling convoy of dozens of tea-carrying vehicles to prepare to cross the river. At this time, the personnel of the Heqiao Inspection Department came to check how Zhou Bao, who had always been arrogant, put the "customs" officials in his eyes, and in the process of inspection, the two sides clashed, and Zhou Bao was furious and instructed the guards in the smuggling convoy to beat the inspectors severely. The small official of the River Bridge Inspection Department was indignant, so he had the courage to report Ouyang Lun's illegal behavior to Zhu Yuanzhang, the Ming Emperor.
Before Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, he experienced hardships in life and suffered from political corruption, thus cultivating an ideological character of envy and hatred, and he long hated the corrupt officials and officials who "served the government and prison and did great harm to the people." Therefore, the officials in the Hongwu period in the early Ming Dynasty were very clear- These are often seen in TV dramas. After Zhu Yuanzhang received the "petition letter" from the heqiao official, he was very angry and immediately ordered a thorough investigation of the matter.
Today, it seems that this matter is quite dramatic, a bit like the plot in the Bao Gong drama. Soon the "smuggling of tea by donkey horses" came to fruition. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the officials were very efficient, and Zhu Yuanzhang also had Jinyiwei and other secret service supervisors, and it was easy to investigate the problem of smuggling tea by horses.
The smuggling of tea by Ouyang Lun was thus revealed. Zhu Yuanzhang adhered to the principle that "there is a law that must be done, and no faith is established", and he could not privately abolish the public law, so he gave Ouyang Lun to death, killed Zhou Bao and others, and did not receive the tea goods from the officials. ”
This is the story of folklore, in which people interpret the case of "Ouyang Lun smuggling tea and being executed" in a very tortuous way, what is it in history?
According to relevant experts consulting the "History of Ming", there are four records of "Ouyang Lun smuggling tea and being executed", which are mentioned in the third volume of Taizu Benji, the Salt Law Tea Fa Zhi, and the Liechuan, of which the princess is slightly detailed, but these accounts add up to only more than two hundred words, and only one "fur" can be known.
The "History of Ming" about the case of "Ouyang Lun smuggling tea by the horse was executed" is relatively brief, but it did happen in Gansu. The case of "Ouyang Lun smuggling tea and being executed" in history is like this: Princess Hongwu of Anqing married Ouyang Lun in fourteen years. In the last years of Hongwu's reign, shortly after the ban on the private sale of tea was promulgated, lawless horses repeatedly sent people to sell tea privately, and harassed the people's stations in the places they arrived, and even the feudal officials did not dare to ask questions. Ouyang Lun, a domestic slave Zhou Bao, was very arrogant and often asked the relevant departments to collect dozens of vehicles to transport tea for him. Passing by the River Bridge Inspection Department, he was good at insulting the division. The officials could not bear it, and the emperor was furious, And Shi Lun died, and Bao and the others were beheaded.
Why did the pony suffer such a severe punishment? It turned out that in the thirtieth year of Hongwu, the Ming government changed the Qinzhou Tea horse division to Xining, and at the same time Zhu Yuanzhang issued an order to the Governor of the Right Army, saying that the export of private tea has become increasingly rampant recently, and as a result, the number of trades in the mutual market has become increasingly reduced, and the price of horses is becoming more and more expensive and the price of tea is becoming cheaper, so they sent officials and troops to patrol Songpan, Hezhou, Lintao and other places to patrol and prohibit the trafficking of private tea. It can be seen that Ouyang Lun, the lieutenant of the horse, just crashed into the limelight, and naturally it was difficult to escape death.
It is said that Zhu Yuanzhang did not punish the Lanzhou Heqiao official who bravely exposed the crime of the donkey horse, but on the contrary greatly appreciated him and specially "left his envoy to JiaLaozhi."
It can be said that it is a blessing in disguise.