In ancient China, although there was no very developed technology, craftsmen were able to create very ingenious buildings, and even some modern experts were surprised by this. For example, there are pagodas without nails from beginning to end, and there is the Great Wall that stretches for thousands of miles. In addition, many ancient techniques are still in use, such as the construction of raft foundations. These technologies were first invented and applied by Chinese.
During the Northern Song Dynasty, there was a county chief in Quanzhou named Cai Xiang. At that time, the Luoyang River outside Quanzhou City was turbulent. Crossing the river is very dangerous for people. Ships can easily be destroyed, people die, and accidents are caused. However, if you don't cross the river here, the detour will be delayed for more than a month, which makes Cai Xiang very worried. Because he knew that if the problem of crossing the river was not solved, the people would have a bad life and his officials would be incompetent.
Therefore, in order to build a bridge on the river in Luoyang, Cai Xiang summoned nearby skilled craftsmen to do it together. However, when implemented, the problem comes. Because the water was flowing too fast, the stone should have been thrown down to lay the foundation, but the stone was lost and quickly washed away by the river. Therefore, there is no way to repair the bridge without a method of laying the foundation. The craftsmen watched the river tumble and did nothing.
People always think of ways. Cai Xiang and several others decided to put a dock-like boat directly on the water instead of laying the foundation. In this way, the piers float naturally on the surface of the water and do not sink due to buoyancy. People and horses walk on it, as long as the buoyancy of the piers is large enough, then the bridge is absolutely fine. Therefore, with the help of this raft foundation, Cai Xiang and others finally built a bridge and improved the people's lives.
Since then, the bridge has been named Luoyang Bridge, also known as Wan'an Bridge. The bridge lasted seven years from the fifth year of Emperor You to the fourth year of Jiayou, costing 14 million taels of silver, becoming the world's first "cross-sea bridge".
So, some people here think it is very strange, why is the bridge built in Quanzhou not called Quanzhou Bridge or other bridges, why is there only Luoyang Bridge? Luoyang and Quanzhou are far apart, at least 1500 kilometers. In ancient times, even if you travel by car today, you can't run together for more than 10 hours?
In fact, since the Tang and Song dynasties, due to frequent wars and social unrest in the north, a large number of Central Plains people have left their hometowns and come to the south to make a living.
However, at the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, the world was more turbulent. At that time, many people in Luoyang could not survive, so they chose to migrate. After the Jingkang Revolution, the political center of the Zhao Dynasty moved south, and the huge Zhao family was not spared, and then moved south with the emperor. One of the imperial organizations at that time, Nanwai Zongzhengji, also moved from Nanjing to Zhenjiang, and eventually settled in Quanzhou, Fujian.
After the Song-Jin War and the Song Dynasty moved south, the foreign clan Zong Zhengji also began to move south. Among them, "Dazong Zhengsi moved to Jiangning, south to Zhenjiang, and west to Yangzhou", but this was not their final destination. Emperor Gaozong advised for three years, "west to Fuzhou, south to Quanzhou". At this point, the members of the royal family can finally rest and breathe. The "Nanyang Sect Zhengji" was established in Quanzhou until the fall of the Southern Song Dynasty.
So, that's why it's actually a bridge in Quanzhou, but it's named Luoyang Bridge. The Luoyang people of Quanzhou also have a lot of yearning for their hometown of Luoyang.
Cai Xiang invented this raft for hundreds of years. It is worth mentioning that this technology has been worth mentioning for hundreds of years.
Moreover, for the Luoyang Bridge, Cai Xiang also came up with a lot of ways to improve.
For example, in order to make the pier more stable, the mechanism is used to make the pier more stable. Because of the floating piers below, these stones will not sink at all, which makes the Luoyang Bridge more and more perfect. More importantly, in order to strengthen the Luoyang Bridge, Cai Xiang came up with a way to make people clap their hands. You know, although the Luoyang Bridge was built, it was still unstable. With the rapid erosion of the water, once the Luoyang Bridge cannot be supported and disconnected, the resulting casualties can be said to be irreparable.
However, because the Luoyang Bridge floats on the water, it cannot be reinforced. You think that if you use lime, it doesn't cure easily and the result will be washed away by water. Moreover, the Luoyang Bridge is repaired with lime and is easy to break. So what to do? How to repair the bridge?
The answer is oysters. Yes, it was this hard-shell creature that helped Cai Xiang repair the Luoyang Bridge. We should know that these oysters multiply in large numbers. As soon as the shells were washed by the river, they were embedded in the Luoyang Bridge. This is equivalent to nailing tens of thousands of nails on the Luoyang Bridge. How can they not be strong? Cai Xiang ordered the cultivation of large quantities of oysters in the river outside Luoyang. Later, the situation was not unexpected. With the help of these animals, luoyang bridge is very strong and stands for thousands of years!
The wisdom of the working people of antiquity was so ingenious that they could even think of using natural animals to help them build bridges.
It was because of this idea that ancient Chinese were able to build so many great buildings. According to research, the Luoyang Bridge can be said to be the world's first cross-sea bridge, it was not built with steel and cement, but with the wisdom of working people.
Resources:
[History of the Song Dynasty, Vol. 320, Liechuan No. 79, Dongdu Shiluo, Vol. 75, Liechuan No. 58]