The Yellow River has been China's mother river since ancient times, and thousands of years have passed, nourishing generations of Chinese sons and daughters. Although the Yellow River has been heavily congested in sediment in recent years, in the eyes of the ancients, the Yellow River is the existence of a transportation hub, and there are many famous ferries on the Yellow River, and Pujindu, located outside Puzhou City, Yongji City, Shanxi Province, is one of them, and in 541 AD, the first pontoon bridge was erected here, called Lianzhou Pontoon Bridge. During the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty, Puzhou became one of the six great cities of the Sheng Tang Dynasty, and Tang Xuanzong ordered the construction of the famous Pujin Bridge and the Tang Kaiyuan Iron Bull here, which is the epitome of the prosperity of the Sheng Tang Dynasty.
The huge Pujin Bridge, the exquisite shape of the four iron cattle
Pujin Bridge was built in the first year of the Tang Dynasty, with boats as the base, the bridge deck is paved with wooden planks, and the total length of the bridge reaches 360 meters, which is a very large project in ancient times. Four iron cattle weighing about 40 tons are majestic on both sides of the Yellow River, acting as rope piles for the bridge, and the bridge is chained with iron cables to withstand the gravity of the bridge body and firmly fix the bridge. This bridge is the first fixed iron cable pontoon bridge on the Yellow River, and at this point, the Yellow River Graben has become Kangzhuang Avenue.
The four iron cows that act as rope piles are even more exquisitely shaped, each iron cow is 1.9 meters high and 1.3 meters wide, the overall length is 3 meters, and the weight of a single iron cow reaches more than 40 tons. Next to the four iron bulls, there is an iron man, taking Weiwei, Mongolia, Tibet, and Hanlishi as the prototype, and the characters are vivid, looking at them as if they have traveled through a thousand years and returned to the Sheng Tang. These four iron bulls are the historical relics with the longest history, the largest weight and the highest craftsmanship found in China.
The vast project highlights the atmosphere of the Tang Dynasty and guards the Central Plains Pass
According to historical experts, the iron cattle, iron men, iron mountains and seven-star iron pillars on both sides of the Pujindu River were cast on the spot by the people on both sides of the Yellow River, cast on the spot with "small blast furnaces", and cast at one time without mechanical help in ancient times. These projects, costing about 800 tons of iron, accounted for 80% of the country's iron production in the Tang Dynasty at that time, which can be described as a national effort, such a huge amount of engineering, in the eyes of modern people is also amazing.
After the completion of the Construction of the Pujin Bridge, it has become an important link connecting Shanxi, Shaanxi and Henan in the past hundred years, and has been used for 500 years. Unfortunately, in the early years of the Tang Dynasty, the bridge was destroyed in the war and reopened for nearly a century during the Ming Dynasty, until the recent Qing Dynasty, when it was completely abandoned.
Witness the prosperity of the entire Tang Dynasty and the re-emergence of modern times
In the last century, because of the siltation of the Yellow River bed, the iron bull disappeared for a while. In 1988, the local authorities organized hundreds of workers, after more than a year of hard work, day and night in the Yellow River beach exploration, and finally the iron bull was re-launched, this appearance, because of the world's widespread attention.
This bridge, which witnessed the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty, has now been opened into the "Pujindu Ruins Cultural Relics Museum" for tourists to visit. The local government also built a replica pontoon bridge on the original site, although the prosperous Tang Dynasty of that year is no longer there, but standing on the bridge, it can still make people think of the grand situation of the Tang Dynasty when the soldiers were strong and strong, prosperous and open.
Would you like to come here to visit if you have the chance?