The hardest stone is closed at the Goose Gate
Zhang Chunyan
The stones at the border are particularly hard. And Yanmen Pass has the most angular, hardest, and shiny stones in All of China.
It is bordered by Taihang in the east and Lüliang in the west, and the mountains are high and windy, and the road is dangerous and difficult to travel. This is the basic feature of the Hengshan Mountain Range, where Yanmen Pass is located. In the steep mountains, the Yanmen Pass, which is surrounded by two mountains, is the only place where it can be passed and naturally controls the north and south. As a result, this pass from the Central Plains to the desert north became the forefront of conflicts and even wars between the ancient Central Plains Dynasty and the northern nomads. It is known as "the first pass in China". Historically, there have been frequent wars here, and the smoke of war has been abundant. Since the Western Zhou Dynasty, to the Song and Yuan Dynasties, there have been more than 2,000 large and small wars at Yanmen Pass, leaving behind many stories of fierceness and legends that can be sung and wept. Get the Wild Goose Gate and gain the Central Plains, and lose the Wild Goose Gate and lose the world. This old saying has been proven time and time again.
Nowadays, Yanmen Pass has become a scenic spot for people to explore the ancients, ascend to the far horizons, and think about the ancients.
In my eyes, the stone of the Wild Goose Gate is a unique type and unique personality of life. On the way to the pass, it is paved with angular, large and small stones. In the doorways of the Heavenly Danger Gate and the Di'an Gate, there are long strips of stone that have been polished by the feet and animal hooves that have entered and exited the gate for thousands of years. The foundation of the Wall is covered with hard bluestone. The stones of Yanmen Pass are mainly colored by cyan, but also have green and white and blue gray. This stone, which has left the imprint of time and recorded the legendary story, is cold, lonely, full of awe, but there is no lack of warmth and vividness. It makes people feel that the life of the border pass should be like this. Thousands of years of border customs are inlaid by these large and small stones.
This stone of different shapes has seen the heroic posture of King Wuling of Zhao, who wore the costumes of the ethnic minorities in the north, raised his horse and whip, and defeated the invading enemy; he has seen Li Mu, a famous general of the Warring States who has forethought and cultivated obscurity, and finally defeated the Xiongnu for more than ten years; he has personally witnessed the hunting and hunting battle flags of Wei Qing, Huo Zhiyi, Li Guang, and Yang Jiajian, as well as many generals who set out from this place and rushed into the ancient battlefield, or who stubbornly defended the enemy here Hundreds of millions of times I have heard the sound of fighting inside and outside the guan... The stones were splashed with eight horseshoes, imprinted with the shadow of the sword and light, and soaked with too much wine, sweat, teardrops, and blood stains.
The most recent war in the memory of these stones at Yanmen Pass was the Ambush Of Yanmen Pass launched by the Eighth Route Army here in October 1937. The Eighth Route Army set up two ambushes and unexpectedly struck the Japanese automobile transport team, killing and wounding more than 500 Japanese troops, destroying more than 30 cars, cutting off the rear supply line of the Japanese army, and greatly supporting the anti-Japanese frontal battlefield. This shocked the great victory of the Yanmen Gate at home and abroad, so that the quality and hardness of the Yanmen Gate stone were deeply engraved in the hearts of the participants and future generations.
Many people, including the author, have their first impression of Yanmen Pass from the poet Li He's "Yanmen Taishouxing": "The black clouds are trying to destroy the city, and the light of the armor opens to the golden scales of the sun." The horns are full of autumn colors, stuffed with swallow fat and night purple. Half a roll of red flag pro easy water, frost heavy drum cold sound can not stand. Repay the king's golden stage and bring the jade dragon to die for the king! "When I was a teenager, I recited it, and I only felt that the poet used bold words and special intentions. Now walking on the stone of Yanmen Pass, looking at the winding extension of the Great Wall, I feel the solemn atmosphere and the pride of serving the country in the poem, right in the ear, in the brain, the sound of the golden stone.
The stones closed by the Goose Gate are very hard. The wind and snow at Yanmen Pass were cold. However, for thousands of years, the stone of Yanmen Pass has built a road to the outside world with its friendliness and tenacity, opening a door for those who are eager to understand and communicate with the outside world. And the wind of Yanmen Pass is not only sharp and cold, but also harmonious and warm.
During the reign of Emperor Yuan of the Han Dynasty, Wang Zhaojun came out of here and walked to the Xiongnu. After that, there was a stable situation of "The Remote City was closed, the cow mabuye, the third generation did not bark the police, and the Li Shu did not have the Battle of Gange". People are able to recuperate and society to develop and progress.
At the border pass, in addition to conquest, confrontation, and fighting, there are also fireworks in the world, and there are also colorful trade exchanges. The border trade street focuses on the trade in goods and the living conditions of border people in the border area. Bluestone paved roads, green brick walls, gray tile roofs, carved doors and windows, shops, fluttering fronts and red lanterns make it feel like traveling back in time to the Ming and Qing dynasties, seeing scenes from hundreds of thousands of years ago: those driving camels or mules and horses, speaking with different accents, looking for trade targets in the bustling streets. Through the primitive barter method, camels, cattle, horses and sheep, dairy products, and animal furs in the north exchanged with the silk, cotton and linen, tea leaves, and medicinal materials of the Central Plains, and each went to a strange place to meet the needs of the new owner. This is also the first pass of jinshang to go to the west entrance. The Qiao Zhiyong who created the most prosperous period of the Qiao family compound walked out of the bluestone slab road here and became a generation of Jin merchants.
Yanmen Pass is a pass that carries peace and tranquility, wealth and hope.
If the stone is the skeleton of the earth, then the stone of Yanmen Pass is the strange and hard backbone of the Chinese land.
At Yanmen Pass, my phone captured a special shot: two long, old and weak feet, a black cane, walking hard and stubbornly on a stone path. The stones under my feet shine with the cold and warm, contained and wild light of the depths of time.
In front of these feet is a vast and evocative pass.
(The author is a member of Chongqing Writers Association)
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