Ancient Official Road and Jinxiang Coastal Defense
Restricted and influenced by its geographical environment, for hundreds of years, the Jinxiang area has long played an important role in connecting the present-day Lufeng urban area with jieshi central town.
As early as the tenth year of the Qianlong Dynasty (1745), the first "Lufeng County Chronicle" edited by Wang Zhizheng and Shen Zhancai, Volume II, "Territorial History", included "from the county seat ten miles south to Wukan Port, from Wukan Fifty Miles to Jieshi Acropolis" in the content of "Four to Chong". Among them, "from Wukan Fifty Miles to Jieshi Acropolis" mainly refers to the area of present-day Jinxiang. In view of its important transportation and military and political status, from the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the official government began to build roads in Jinxiang on a large scale. Synthesizing the Huizhou Fuzhi, Haifeng County Chronicle and Lufeng County Chronicle of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it can be seen that the earliest official road (Yidao) of Jinxiang was built in the 28th year of The Ming Dynasty Hongwu (1395), from the yousi Haihai to open the mountains and forests, slightly later than the 22nd year of Hongwu (1389) Jieshiwei. At that time, under the situation of the early establishment of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the rise of the Ming Dynasty, the main function and use of this official road was to connect the haifeng county town at that time with the Jieshi Acropolis and the thousand households under its jurisdiction, forming a coastal defense system that echoed from end to end and was coordinated by the military and the CHINESE People's Political Consultative Conference, so as to ensure the security and stability of the regime.
From the beginning of the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty, this major traffic artery connecting the present-day Lucheng and Jieshi also underwent five reconstructions before and after the Qianlong Decade, the Fourteenth Year of Daoguang (1834), the Fifth Year of Tongzhi (1866), the Twelfth Year of Guangxu (1886), and the Sixteenth Year of Guangxu (1890). Among them, the reconstruction presided over by Fang Yao in the twelfth year of Guangxu was the largest, and its influence was also the most far-reaching. Fang Yao ,Zi Zhaoxuan, born in the fourteenth year of Qing Daoguang (1834) in Hongyang West Village ,Puning County, Chaozhou Prefecture, Guangdong Province (now Hongyang Town, Puning City), was born in a township regiment, and later joined the official army, and successively held the posts of general, capital division, staff general, deputy general, general soldier, and admiral. From the seventh year of Tongzhi (1868) to the seventeenth year of Guangxu (1891), Fang Yao successively served as the commander-in-chief of Chaozhou Town, the admiral of Guangdong land, and the admiral of Guangdong Water Division, and for many years he was familiar with the defense of the coast of Lingdong. In the twelfth year of Guangxu, he was serving as the admiral of Guangdong. In order to strengthen the fortifications in the coastal areas of Lingdong, in order to strengthen the situation of internal and external troubles, he also rebuilt the official roads along the coastal line in addition to repairing Guangtun Tian and forts.
Judging from the ancient official road left on the present-day Guanyin Ridge in Jinxiang, fang Yao's reconstruction of the official road along the east coast of the ridge is unprecedented. Compared with the previous old official road, Fang's reconstructed official road has mainly made three improvements: one is to widen the road surface, so that the average road width reaches more than 3 meters; the second is to level the roadbed, so that the road surface is more gentle; the third is to consolidate the road stones, using granite rock slabs that are 3 meters long and 0.25 meters wide. The reconstruction of the official road has greatly promoted the uploading and issuance of government decrees, the allocation and transportation of materials, the dispatch and inspection of officials, and the garrison and mobilization of soldiers, thus further strengthening the military and political ties between the present-day land city and Jieshi, and strengthening the coastal defense along the line. Since the reconstruction project is unprecedented, the expenditure of human, material and financial resources is naturally unprecedented. In order to promote this project, Fang Yao indignantly funded the "donation for repair" and entrusted the authorities of Jieshi Town to "supervise the repair". After the completion of the road, in order to commemorate and commemorate Fang Yao, people built a pavilion on the Guanyin Ridge and next to the official road, called "Water Master Pavilion". A small stone stele erected in the pavilion records the historical information of the personnel and years that contributed to the reconstruction of this official road, including the "Qin Order Guangdong Provincial Water Division to Supervise the Military Gate Fang". To this day, the incense in the pavilion is still exuberant.
According to the recollections of local elders, until the early days of the founding of New China, the above ancient official roads still played an important role in the road that landed on the city to Jieshi. In 1973, the Construction of the Lujinjie Highway began, and the traffic function and status of the official road began to gradually decline. In 1984, after the Lujinjie Highway was completed and opened to traffic, the official road was no longer used as a traffic road. On the other hand, due to disrepair and the economic and social construction along the route, the official road has ceased to exist, leaving only a section of GuanyinLing that is about 200 meters long and about 3 meters wide, bending westward from the top of Guanyinling Headland to the remnants of the mountain below. In view of its long history and its important value in the history of hailufeng transportation and coastal defense, as early as November 1983, the ancient official road has been listed as a cultural relics protection unit. In September 2009, Guguandao was taken over by the Lufeng Municipal Tourism Bureau, leading its comprehensive planning and overall development of the two-in-one integration of cultural relics protection and tourism development.
After ten years of development, when we stroll on the Guanyin Ridge and shuttle through the boulevards, it is not difficult to fully appreciate the vitality of this ancient road from the old times. To this day, people re-walk this weathered ancient road, and it is not difficult to imagine that under the situation in the late Qing Dynasty, including Jieshi Town, the Lingdong Sea Defense Beacon Fire, as well as the lingdong Coastal Defense soldiers, including Fang Yao, are worried about the country and their ambition to serve the country. Examining these histories behind the guanyinling ancient official road and appreciating these feelings and spirits is particularly important in the new era of focusing on the protection and inheritance of excellent Chinese traditional culture and local excellent traditional culture.