Speaking of a historical figure, you know for sure. Zhao Zilong, who entered and exited Changshan seven times in and out of Changshan Slope, was a Zhengding man from Shijiazhuang, and Zhengding was the seat of government of Changshan County. Interestingly, Zhengding has a famous ya name called "Three Mountains Are Not Seen". Because Zhengding was once the seat of government of Zhongshan Kingdom (同郡), Hengshan County, and Changshan County. Zhengding is some distance away from the majestic and dangerous Taihang Mountains, and there are no mountains nearby, so it is called "three mountains are not seen".
Although there are no mountains in Zhengding, to the west of Zhengding is the Taihang Mountains, to the north is the Yanshan Mountains, with the heavy county of Fanyang (present-day capital), the zhangshui and yellow rivers in the south, and Shandong in the southeast. Before the Tang and Song dynasties, the Yellow River Basin was the most economically developed region in China, and the competition was particularly fierce. Zhengding crossed the Taihang Mountains to Taiyuan, Shanxi, which has a commanding position, Fanyang to the north, and Zhongyuan to the south. If a force controls Zhengding, it is equivalent to opening the door to these three places. Therefore, the ancients said: "Zhengding strangles the danger of too much action, the fortress of the north of the river (sai), the principle of taiyuan vibrating in the west, and Fanyang in the north is deterred by Fanyang." "Because Hebei is a plain area, to defend it must lead the Taihang Mountains and Shanxi, which highlights the significance of Zhengding's important strategic fortress."
To add, before emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty, it was called Zhendingfu. Because the Yongzheng Emperor's name was Yin Chan, he really violated the emperor's name, so it was changed to Zhengding. Zhending was named after Emperor Liu Bang of Han Gao, who, after quelling the rebellion of the former Zhao state of Chen Feng, renamed Dongyuan, the important town of the former Zhao state, Zhending (hereinafter referred to as Zhengding). Liu Bang quelled the rebellion between Chen Feng and Lu Xie, the King of Yan, and the Han army was taking Zhengding. Those who want to gain Hebei in the past have not taken Zhengding as a major town, the Northern Song Dynasty confronted the Liao Dynasty in the northern part of the North China Plain, and Zhengding was the gateway-level important town of the Northern Song Dynasty to defend the Khitan on the northern front, and once Zhengding was lost, the vast plain area south of the Tuotuo River could only be left to the Khitan cavalry, and Kaifeng was difficult to defend.
Because of this, successive generations have attached great importance to the construction of Zhengding City. However, now the origin of the ancient city of Zhengding is relatively late, in the chaotic Period of the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms, the previous city has long been obscured by the yellow dust of history.
In 350 AD, the Later Zhao Dynasty collapsed, and the flock of heroes competed for deer in the Central Plains. The North China Plain consisted mainly of the Former Yan Murong clan, which moved from liaodong to the south, and ran min, the adopted grandson of later Zhao emperor Shi Hu. Former Yan was Murong Ke, who was known as the first general of the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms, and Ran Min was also naturally recognized as a "super fierce general", known as Xiang Yu's second. In order to attack Ran Min, Murong Ke built a strong fortress called Le'an Lei, eighteen miles southwest of the Ming Dynasty's Zhending Prefecture. Because of the great war, this place is actually not strictly speaking a city, that is, an earthen city with a circumference of about five miles. It was not until more than 200 years later, during the Northern Zhou Dynasty (557-581), that this earthen city, which was originally purely military, had a stone wall. However, there are also views that the Zhengding City pool before the Ming Dynasty was only a tucheng, not a stone city, even in the economically prosperous Northern Song Dynasty.
After Ming Chengzu moved his capital to Beiping, Zhengding became the southwest gateway town of the Beijing Division, and the Ming Dynasty's direct subordinate inspectors were stationed in Zhengding. In the fourteenth year of the ming dynasty (1449 AD), that is, the year of the change of tumu fort, the relevant authorities expanded the original city, with a circumference of about 24 miles and a height of about 3 zhang 2 (about 3 meters in the Ming Dynasty), but the nature of the city at this time was still Tucheng. It is certain that zhengding city became a stone city in the fifth year of Ming Muzong Longqing (1571 AD), and it took five years before and after it was completed until the fourth year of the Wanli calendar of Emperor Mingshen (1576 AD), when the chancellor Zhang Ju was in power.
There are four gates in the ancient city of Zhengding, each gate also has urn city and moon city, the east gate is Yingxu Gate (later renamed Huancui Gate), the west gate is Zhenyuan Gate, the south gate is Changle Gate, and the north gate is Yong'an Gate (yongle Gate). The openings of each gate are paved with blue stripes of stone, five inches long and two inches wide. Although the door panels of the city gate are made of wood, they are half a foot thick and covered with iron sheets.
The four corners of the city wall are built with corner towers, of which the south gate tower is inscribed with four very domineering words, known as "Belt Mountain and River". There is also a plaque at the inner door of the south gate, and the inscription is equally domineering, "Sanguanxiong Town". The so-called three passes are the three famous passes that played a key role in defending the Beijing division during the Ming Dynasty - Zijing Pass, Reverse Horse Pass, and Niangzi Pass. The three passes are all under the jurisdiction of Zhendingwei, and Zhendingwei is stationed in Zhengding (then called Zhending).
There are many battlements in the ancient city of Zhengding, there are actually more than 5,000, because I think it is too much, Chongzhen lost half of them in the last year, leaving only 2548.
In order to protect the city, the ancients always had to dig a moat after the city was built, and the ancient city of Zhengding was no exception. The moat of Zhengding is about twenty-five miles in circumference, more than a dozen zhang wide, and about two zhang deep. There are many rivers around Zhengding, so the water of the moat is connected by these large rivers, of which the Nantuo River in the west of the city is called the Little Yellow River by the locals because of its turbid water quality.
Zhengding was the "Qinan Guarantee (Inner City Plaque of the North Gate)" of the Jingshi, and after the Qing Dynasty fixed the Central Plains, Zhengding was still regarded as the "Qinan Guarantee", and the directly subordinate inspectors of the early Qing Dynasty were still stationed in Zhengding. In the eighth year of the Qing Dynasty (1669 AD), the Zhili Inspectorate was moved to Baoding, north of Zhengding, but this did not affect the important strategic position of Zhengding in the Qing Dynasty. After that, the Kangxi Emperor, the Yongzheng Emperor, the Jiaqing Emperor, and the Tongzhi Emperor carried out large-scale repairs to the ancient city of Zhengding four times.
Text: Ginger Wolf, Picture: Put the wine speech picture is not drunk, welcome to reprint.