On the map of northwest China, the Qilian Mountains are like arms reaching deep into the Gobi, and the bend of the arms surrounds the entire Hexi Corridor. The entire Hexi Corridor relies on the feeding of the three inland rivers of the Qilian Mountains, and only then has there been a little oasis along the road, which has been full of vitality for thousands of years.
The three inland rivers in the depths of the Qilian Mountains are the Shiyang River, the Heihe River, and the Shule River. Shiyang River is located at the eastern end of Qilian Mountain, and in ancient times, Shiyang River was also known as Gushui. I remember that when we were very young, there was a folk song that was sung everywhere: "The valley water flows, flowing to the head of the wilderness." The valley water here is today's Shiyang River, and the head of the Shiyang River refers to the end lake of the Shiyang River, "Shinozawa". During the Han Dynasty, due to the abundant water of the Shiyang River, the terminal lake "Yuyeze" became the second largest inland lake in China after Qinghai Lake. By the Wei and Jin dynasties, due to the increase in the population in the middle reaches, the downstream minqin water potential weakened. And then it got worse. However, by the late Qing Dynasty, there were hundreds of lakes in the Minqin Oasis, of which about 100 square kilometers of Qingtu Lake became the terminal of the Shiyang River.
Shiyang River was called Gushui in ancient times, and later it was renamed Shiyang River. In the author's opinion, it seems to be related to a folklore. Legend has it that Hanzhong Lang once herded sheep 13 kilometers east of minqin county, and later people called this place Suwu Mountain in honor of Su wu. After 19 years of herding sheep here, Su Wu was picked up by the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, but the sheep he had herded were cultivated into immortals in Gushui Andi Nozawa, and often appeared to do good things for the local people.
One year there was a drought, no snow in one winter, no rain for three seasons, crops could not be planted, and cattle skins were ploughed to cover bones. The zhuanghu people at the end of the ditch asked the highly respected county commander to lead a group of watermen to the Dragon King Temple at the foot of Qilian Mountain to pray for rain, and more than ten days later, there were still thin clouds in the sky, but there was no flowing water in the river. This county commander, who regarded the people as their parents for food and clothing, was impatient, full of guilt, and had no face to "return to the county" of the class. One day, the crescent moon is like a hook, and the spring is cold. The county ordered Heng Vertical to fall asleep, so he put on his clothes and came to the outside of the Dragon King Temple, turning with his feet, turning with his feet, turning with the road, and turning with his heart, coming to a place with dense grass. Suddenly I saw a large white ewe, with long horns, graceful and peaceful, and three cute little lambs on their knees under the abdomen, leisurely sucking on sweet milk, very happy and beautiful. The lamb ate full of belly, so she let go of her plump nipples, ran and played with joy, and enjoyed herself, but the milk of the ewe still gushed and fell to the ground, clanging. At this time, I saw the ewe turn around, look at the county order with the eyes of the mother who cared for the child, and suddenly disappeared.
The county commander was very surprised and hurried to the place where the ewe was breastfeeding, but found nothing, so he had to make a mark and leave in a hurry.
The next morning, the county order led people to the marked place and dug down, and the result was that a white stone sheep and three small stone sheep were dug up, exactly the same as the one they had seen last night. When people were amazed, the pit where the stone sheep was dug suddenly clanged, and a clear spring gushed out, and then there were many springs in the surrounding grass, and the clear spring gradually merged into a mighty river, and the mother and child of the stone sheep melted with the water. The county order suddenly realized. Hurriedly threw five bodies into the ground to thank the heavens, and then led the water guys to divert canals to irrigate and sow seeds. Since then, the people of the land have been rich in rivers, grains, and prosperity.
Because the precious spring water of this river is born of the stone sheep, people call this big river the stone sheep river. Later, the Shiyang River was divided into two major rivers in the east and west of minqin Hongya Mountain, which long nourished and irrigated the vast grasslands and fertile oases of Minqin.
In the Shiyang River Basin, there are many confusing legends about the origin of the Shiyang River. This is one of the sayings.
Folklore, although not credible, but since it has been passed on by word of mouth for countless generations, many of its bizarre absurdities are inevitable. But if you really look closely, these legends always reveal some of the original truth. At the same time, it is also the richest and most vivid source of material for literary creation. I have asked many local friends about such legends, and their answers are different, but it is an indisputable fact that the Shiyang River is related to sheep.
In the Shiyang River Basin, there are many place names and river names related to sheep, such as Yanglu Township, Huangyang River, Huangyang River, Huangyang Town, Jinyang Town, Yangxiaba River, etc.
More direct evidence comes from the petroglyphs of Qilian Mountain. At the western end of the Hexi Corridor, a large number of ancient nomadic petroglyphs, Black Horse Sect petroglyphs and Gegewusu petroglyphs, have been found in the Qilian Mountain area, all of which are mainly hunting and grazing, and animal graphics include camels, red sheep, cattle, horses and donkeys. Hollezadeger petroglyphs depict animals such as large-headed sheep, red sheep, yellow sheep and so on. In the Badain Jaran Desert in the lower reaches of the Shiyang River, there are also various sheep petroglyphs, the most famous of which is the Mandela Mountain petroglyph, located about 14 kilometers southwest of Menggen Prague Sumu in the Right Banner of Alxa, depicting northern goats, pan sheep, rock sheep, antelope, sheep, yellow sheep and Tibetan antelope.
Sheep are related, indicating that the valley water basin at that time was a rich pasture dominated by sheep herding, and sheep played a very important role in the lives of locals. So later people carved stone sheep and placed them on the riverbank. The ancients had a tradition of using carved stones to calm the water. The Yellow River has a large iron bull of the Zhenhe River, and with the help of gods, the Yellow River is flooded. Cattle are water beasts that can be cultivated; It is a thing of Ruixiang, used to town the river. Kaifeng has a zhenhe iron rhinoceros. Li Bing of the Shu Shou of the Qin Dynasty once used the five heads of the stone rhinoceros to press the water essence, and the Ming Dynasty YuQian cast the Zhenhe Iron Rhinoceros, and its intention was also to calm the water. Then it is not difficult to understand the Shiyang Town Water and the Shiyang River.
Myths and legends tend to be absurd and unbelievable, and I stubbornly believe that even myths always have a certain reason, and they are never all for no reason. In those ignorant periods without writing, mythology was also an important aspect of early human history. Emotionally, I would rather believe in the existence of such myths – because when I walk alone in the open desert, when I hike through the hundreds of kilometers of shiyang river and the total area of the 41,600-square-kilometer watershed, I often transcend time and space, meet these legendary people and animals, talk to them, observe them, surprise them, and from time to time be observed and surprised by them...
For many years, whenever I was in this familiar area of the river, I often couldn't help but look up at the snow-capped Qilian Mountains in the south, and at the same time imagine what it looked like here thousands of years ago, imagining the place I was walking at this time, and perhaps the place where the figures of myths and legends walked, everything was so familiar and so far away...
Although the myths and legends cannot be examined, it is an indisputable fact that this place in the valley water basin was once an ideal place for human beings to multiply. As early as 5,000 years ago, human beings entered the Gushui River Basin, and during the Xia, Shang, Zhou, and Qin dynasties, this was mainly the pasture land of Qiang, Rong, Zhai, Yueshi and Wusun, which was an oasis area with abundant water and grass and a vast area. These nomadic tribes, which roamed freely with water and grass, flourished freely at this time, and man and nature lived in harmony.
However, the good times did not last long, and by the Qin and Han dynasties, the xiongnu peoples in the north, which had gradually become stronger, let the southern invasion and drove away the Dayue clan stationed in the Valley Water Valley. The Xiongnu King Xiutu also built the city of King Xiutu on the west bank of the valley that was not known to the emperor of the Han Palace. Later, on the east bank, guzang city was built seven miles from north to south and three miles from east to west. Like wolves, they firmly occupied the north-south communication fortress of the Hexi Corridor north out of the Mongolian plateau.
The beautiful banks of the Gushui River have opened up the world, and for the first time there are two cities, which has also opened the prelude to the era of urban civilization in the Gushui River Basin.
The northern peoples, from the Huns and Turks to the Mongols, pride themselves on being descendants of wolves, who, on their windward-swept flags, look down on and inspire warriors on horseback. In fact, the arduous nomadic life of the generations has indeed created their wolf-like stoic, swift and brutal character. Especially in the season when the grass wilts and leaves, in order to survive, they repeatedly break into the south of the desert and plunder the coveted wealth of the agricultural people, all of which seem to be a matter of course for them. In the early days of the Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu not only harassed the localities, baideng siege also almost captured the founding monarch of the Han Dynasty, if it were not for heavy bribes, dredging the Xiongnu empress, Liu Bang, the ancestor of Han Gao in Weijiahai, left to future generations, I am afraid that there will be more than one "Song of the Great Wind", and I am afraid that there will be a "Song of the Fallen Country". After Gaozu's death, his wife continued to endure humiliation: the Xiongnu wrote a love letter with courage. Wanting to share a bed with Lü Yan and continue to have a good relationship, Even if Lü Hou was angry again, she had no choice but to hide it.
In the face of the continuous invasion of the Xiongnu to the south, after the seventh emperor of the Han Dynasty, Liu Che, came to power, and with the country's growing strength, he decided to send troops to conquest on the grounds of revenge for the "Siege of Baideng" and the shame of Lü Houxue. In 121 BC, the nineteen-year-old hussar general Huo Fuyi attacked twice, launching two decisive battles between Han and Hungary. Huo First led more than 10,000 cavalry out of Longxi, crossed the Yellow River, crossed the Yanzhi Mountain, a branch of the Qilian Mountains in Shandan County, Gansu, drove thousands of miles, beheaded the Xiongnu Khanate King Zhelan and the Lu Marquis, and seized the golden statue that King Xiu Tu used to sacrifice to the heavens.
In the summer of that year, Huo Wentai led tens of thousands of troops out of the north, crossed the Yellow River, crossed Ningxia, west to Juyanhai, and then detoured south through the Ejina area, attacked the Qilian Mountains with lightning speed, defeated the powerful Xiongnu in the area of Jiuquan and Zhangye, and captured the King of Shan Huan and the King of Chieftain Tu, and the Hun Evil King also surrendered to the Han Dynasty after assassinating the King of Ti Tu. In this way, from Lanzhou in Gansu province to Lop Nur in Xinjiang, this narrow strip of land with an area of 150,000 square kilometers has become what later generations call the "Hexi Corridor". China's western territory thus advanced thousands of kilometers to the northwest, all the way to Central Asia, thus laying the foundation for political, military, economic and diplomatic strategic advantages.
By virtue of Jun Mo's words, he will become a thousand bones. In the dispute between Han and Hungary, the blood of the soldiers on both sides was shed in rivers, and the lives of the people were ruined. When the City of the Body Tu King was wide opened, in the Long Sword Gao Ge Cong, the beautiful Body Tu King Queen Fu Shi, took a nostalgic look at this grassland castle and was overwhelmed. She was followed by the 14-year-old crown prince Kim Il (Shi Dan) and more than a hundred members of the Hutu royal family. This escorted team marched south, singing a heavy song all the way sadly: "Lose me Qilian Mountain, let my six animals not rest; lose my Yanzhi Mountain, make my women colorless!" "Including Ejina and "Jinzhangye Yinwuwei" and Dunhuang, Yumen, including the Qilian Mountains, fertile and fertile, the Xiongnu lost this great river and mountain, it is inevitable to beat their chests, and Yanzhi Mountain, also known as "Rouge Mountain", a red dye produced in it, is a high-grade cosmetic used by Xiongnu women at that time, and the word "rouge" now known as "rouge" comes from this. Put ourselves in the shoes of the Huns, if we were Huns at that time, we would naturally have blood in our hearts.
After the Western Han Dynasty gained the upper hand, in order to consolidate border defenses and prevent the return of xiongnu armed forces, the Great Wall was built. And emigrant reclamation for long-term purposes. This section of the Great Wall is about 200 kilometers long in Wuwei.
The purpose of the Han Dynasty's construction of the Great Wall was to strengthen border defenses, but the Great Wall in Wuwei basically traveled along the southern edge of the Tengger and Badain Jaran Deserts, which objectively played a role in blocking the southward advance of wind and sand and protecting oases and water sources. Those great wall intact lots. Yellow sand is still blocked north of the city wall.
Later, with the implementation of the reclamation of immigrants, large grasslands on both sides of the valley were reclaimed into farmland. Zhang Qian's second mission to the Western Regions opened up the main communication routes between the Han Dynasty and the Western Regions and the Silk Road. To the east, the exquisite silk fabrics, textiles, lacquerware, bronzes, advanced refining, agricultural technology, and advanced ideology and culture of the Central Plains were continuously transmitted. To the west, materials and cultures such as Dawan horses, alfalfa, grapes, stone peaches, walnut beans, music, musical instruments, and dances in the western region were also continuously introduced, and after being absorbed and digested by the valley water basin, they were also transmitted to the Central Plains. For a time, the Silk Road became the sound of hundreds of caravan camel bells, and there was an endless stream, so that there was a grand situation of "Hu merchants and peddlers, the Japanese money stuffed" and "the messengers looking at each other on the road".
The Shiyang River was finally combed into a streamer of silver and prosperous Mother River in the first western development of the Han Dynasty. In the river basin, the water conservation area is densely forested and abundant, and it is still a beautiful grassland with "wind-blown grass and low cattle and sheep"; the natural conditions in the middle and lower reaches of the oasis area are becoming more and more superior, the population is beginning to be dense, and agriculture is booming. Springs everywhere in the lakeside, the streams are babbling, and the gushing rivers become the Red Water River, the Baita River, the Haizang River, the Nansha River, the Beisha River, the Jinchuan River and other spring rivers, irrigating tens of thousands of acres of fertile land, becoming the essence of agriculture; the remaining water flows into the downstream Minqin Basin and the Jinchuan Basin, supplementing the Baiting Sea, Qingtu Lake and many reed lakes inside the oasis, the blue waves are rippling, the green birds swim, and the reeds on the lakeside are thick and dense. The sand dunes outside the oasis naturally grow sand dates, poplar, red willow, shuttle and other sand tree shrubs, blocking the wind and fixing sand; also growing licorice, Suoyang, ephedra and other sand grass vegetation, forming a piece of green carpet. The prosperity and development of agriculture has enabled the people living in this area to live a good life of "ploughing and fishing".
In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, the Central Plains were in chaos, and the Shiyang River Valley and Gucheng became the only place in the world with rich products, economic prosperity, and cultural development, and a metropolis on the Silk Road. According to the Book of the Later Han Dynasty, "The world is disturbed, only Hexi is alone, while Guzang is called Fuyi, currency Qianghu, and the city is four times." Thus, "The settlers, the northlands, and the upper flocks flow into the hunger seekers, and there is no end to them." "There are also literati and poor people in the Central Plains who have also flowed into Hexi and come to the paradise of their dreams.
The Shiyang River, in this way, moisturizes the beautiful Xiliang land with gushing snow water, gives birth to the splendid ancient Liangzhou culture, and creates the world-famous Jinchuan Nickel Capital.
By the time of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the Valley Water Basin had returned to an unprecedented prosperity. From the first year of Yongning (301) when Zhang Rail was appointed as a lieutenant of the Qiang Dynasty and the Assassin of Liangzhou, to the second year of Yonghe (346), the 45th year of Zhang Rail's grandson Zhang Jun, Zhang Rail IV followed Dou Rong's example and made great efforts to manage the Gushui River Basin as the only safe area in northwest China. After Zhang Shi arrived in office, it coincided with "Xianbei rebellion, Kou thieves running rampant". After he pacified xianbei Ruoluo, he captured more than 100,000 prisoners and resettled Xingnong.
Since then, the refugees from Zhongzhou have been "sun and moon". By 317 AD, after the fall of Chang'an, there were less than 100 households in Chang'an City, and 80 to 90 percent of the people of Yong and Qin died. The people of the Central Plains enviously sang the song "In the middle of Qin Chuan, blood has no wrists, only Liangzhou leans on the pillar view", and rushed to Liangzhou one by one, and Zhang Rail had no choice but to set up a new Wuxing County in the northwest of Guzang City, specially resettling the Zhongzhou and Qinyong refugees who had come to Liangzhou to take refuge. At the same time, the urban construction of Liangzhou City also kicked off at this time, first Zhang Rail built a small city in the north of Guzang City, completing his plan of "Big City Guzang". Zhang Mao, the son of Later Zhang Rail, built the "Inner Garden City" and the "LingjunTai" to complete the planning of the "Maofu Great City Guzang". Later, Zhang Jun, the grandson of Zhang Rail, built the "Four Boxes City" on the four sides of Guzang City, east, south, west and north. Finally formed the "Seven Cities and 100,000 Homes in Liangzhou" grand landscape.
At that time, the valley water basin was really a paradise on earth, and in Liangzhou City in the basin, there were busy traffic and people coming and going, and it was a lively and busy scene. By the time of the Tang Dynasty, this scene was even more magnificent, and the entire valley and water basin, "Lu Yan looked at each other, Sang Ma Fei Ye, the world called the rich, like Long Right." "Commercial trade began to flourish, and silk and porcelain from Turkic, Hui, Dashi, Persian and other countries filled the markets of Liangzhou City. Tang Xuanzang traveled west to Liangzhou, and in the translation of the scriptures, he took to the streets with interest, and the scene he saw was: "Liangzhou is the capital of Hexi, with a belt to the west, the right countries of the onion, and the business travel and travel, and there is no end." ”
At the same time, the literati rioters also came to Liangzhou one by one, leaving behind one poem after another praising Liangzhou. Yuan Shuyun: "I smell the former Western Liangzhou, and the people are thick with mulberries." Cen Shan sang at night with the judges in the Liangzhou Pavilion: "Liangzhou Seven Miles 100,000 Homes, Hu people half-unpack the pipa." Zhang Zhige: "Countless ringtones are far away from the moraine, and should be practiced to Anxi." There are also poets such as Wang Wei, Bai Juyi, and Wang Changling, who have left praise for Liangzhou's ancient songs after drinking Liangzhou's fine wine. This beauty lasted until the Song Dynasty. Song Shi said: "The ganliang states, there is no risk of drought and flooding, the land is spared, especially wheat and rice."
Such a paradise on earth will inevitably cause the birth of others. In 1003, the Western Xia regime with the Dangxiang clan as the main body conquered Liangzhou, the Song Dynasty prefect Ding Weiqing was brutally killed, and the Shiyang River Valley changed hands again and became the territory of Western Xia. However, the Western Xia survived for only two hundred years, and was wiped out by Genghis Khan's Mongol regime in the summer of 1226. This is the valley watershed, this is the heavenly place. In the dust of history, between prosperity and cold silence, there is a continuous smoke of war. Here, Wei Qing, Huo Zhiyi, and Li Guang's war horses had just stepped on, and the iron horses of the Tang Dynasty were wrapped in wind and sand and trampled on this brown land.
However, what cannot be ignored is that behind the prosperity of the Gushui River Basin, it is not only the fighting of Jinge Iron Horse, but also the desertification of the ecology of the Shiyang River Basin. Due to the over-reclamation, deforestation and war damage of the successive immigrant garrisons, this paradise-like place is also undergoing subtle changes in the pulse.
This is a clear and vague rough outline of the Valley Water Basin from ancient times to today--it was once a paradise, like the poetic description of a literati rioter who "I smelled the former Western Liangzhou, and the people were thick with mulberries"; it was also a hell, just like the poet's lament of "Rambling on the day of the Han Emperor's enlightenment, green phosphorus and white bones are overwhelmed with sorrow"...
For me, I am not only looking for shadows from the voluminous piles of old paper, but more with a certain understanding inherited from ancient times, with various nutrients generously given to the water and soil in this area for more than fifty years, and with the feet of the Shiyang River Basin step by step, to understand the Shiyang River and observe the Shiyang River.
However, the Shiyang River Basin is so vast and unfathomable, how much can I understand it?
What is difficult to relax is that the more I came later, the more I was afraid to recognize a new annotation of the valley water basin - Qilian is still the same, where is heaven?