"More than 700 years ago, Longyan City fought against the Mongolian army in the south for 18 years, and was known as the "first barrier in the south", and together with Hechuan Diaoyu City, it was called the "sister city of anti-Mongolian"."
Photography @ He Wanquan
Longyan City / One of the 48 Cities of the Southern Anti-Mongolian Resistance /
Longyan City, also known as Horse Brain City, the mountain is like a galloping horse leading the head to the sky and roaring, hence the name.
During the Southern Song Dynasty, in order to resist the iron horse of the Mongolian army, Song Baoyou issued a decree in 1255 to build Longyan City on Mazui Mountain on the east side of the Golden Buddha Mountain, and jointly build a military defense line with Hechuan Diaoyu City and Luzhou Shen arm city. Historically, the Southern Song Dynasty's anti-Mongolian defense line in Sichuan adopted the strategy of riding according to the mountain system, resisting the defense by risk, and controlling the surface with points, and the cities supported each other, building a defense system in which 48 cities were each other's horns, resisting the Offensive of the Mongolian Army, extending the rule of the Southern Song Dynasty, and having a profound impact on the process of world civilization. And Nanchuan Jinfoshan Longyan City, as one of the important cities, is the last barrier in the south.
Photography @ Wang Xin
Longyan City / Reputation as "the first important pass in Yizhong" /
The construction of Longyan Castle, Baoyou Bingchen (1256), began and was completed by 1258. Cliffs on three sides, only one path can be climbed, it can be said that one husband and wife are inseparable.
Photography @ Ren Xiangzhi
Historically, there have been two wars in Longyan City, which occurred in the war against Mongolia in the early years of Song Baoyou (1259), which was particularly fierce. At that time, the Mongol Great Khan Möngke personally led an army of 800,000 people to drive straight into Sichuan, and the Song Dynasty army fell undefeated. A Mongol army advanced southwest, all the way to the foot of Longyan City. Met with stubborn resistance from the anti-Mongolian general Mao Shixiong and his soldiers, the Mongolian army attacked the city twice, which lasted for two months and was repelled by the defenders with wooden stones. Because of the merits of the Song generals in defending the city, they were praised by the emperor and called Longyan City "the first key pass in Yizhong".
Longyan City / Together with Diaoyu City, it is called "Anti-Mongolian Sister City"/
The ruins of the Southern Song Dynasty's Anti-Mengshan City are castle communities built by the Southern Song Dynasty to resist The Mongol military expansion, and are an important representative of the many city ruins in Chongqing.
Photography @ Dalun Lee
According to an inscription in Longyan City: "In early 1259 AD, the Mongol army attacked the city twice..." At the same time, Hechuan Diaoyu City also carried out a larger and more tragic war, in which Möngke Khan was shot and killed by artillery. Because of this war, the Great Khan of Mongolia was killed here, the "plan to destroy the Song Dynasty" was stranded and eventually aborted, and the Southern Song Dynasty regime was able to continue for another twenty years, while alleviating the situation on the Eurasian battlefield, and Europe escaped the punishment of the "Whip of God"... The history of the world has changed!
Therefore, in the defense system of the Southern Song Dynasty against Mengshan City, Longyan City and Diaoyu City are the most important and famous mountain city strongholds, and Longyan City, together with Diaoyu City, has become a place where "God folds the whip"!
Photography @ Hu Bo
Longyan City / Has a long history and culture of boiling salt /
During the Song Dynasty, the development of Cold Weapons in China reached its peak, and at the same time, gunpowder was also used in national defense wars. In the Chongqing Anti-Mongolian War (Hechuan Diaoyu City, Nanchuan Longyan City, Luzhou Iron Arm City, etc.), gunpowder weapons (such as Tribulus fireballs, etc.) were widely used.
The Song people found sediments rich in sulfates and nitrates in caves at the top of the mountain. According to legend, a Song man who sold tea and salt walked into the Golden Buddha Mountain with a "mysterious Danfang" left by Ge Hong, a famous alchemist in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Dan Fang recorded the ingredients of gunpowder, and the villagers of Jinfoshan dug roads and built nitrate stoves, and in just a few years, the Jinfoshan Cave Group was built into the world's largest underground nitrogen mining workshop, providing evidence for China's gunpowder manufacturing and the early development of the chemical industry.
Photography @ Xu Peng
Some scholars believe that longyan city is invincible in the anti-Mongolian position, because the city relies on natural dangers. However, in the face of the Mongol army that crisscrossed Europe and Asia, broke through the bamboo, and accumulated a lot of experience in attacking the city, how could Longyan City in Jinfoshan mountain resist a strong attack with only one pass? Recent research believes that from the background of the half-century-long tug-of-war between Song and Mongolia and the scale of Jinfoshan's salt boiling, Jinfoshan, as a large-scale salt-boiling base at that time, provided strategic material (gunpowder) support for the military and civilians of Longyan City to resist Mongolia, and enriched the weapons and equipment of the Song Army (Nanping Army).
Longyan City Monument
About 30 meters under the stone arch city gate, there is an ancient stele, the inscription records the last years of the Southern Song Dynasty, the Song general Shi Cheju, Mao Shixiong built the city and Mao Shixiong led the crowd to resist the Mongol army won a great victory, so it was praised by the emperor Song Lizong, is an extremely precious art inscription, but also a rare Southern Song Dynasty historical materials, is now a Municipal Cultural Relics Protection Unit in Chongqing.
Source | Nanchuan Cultural Tourism