Historic walk around the city
The years are like smoke in front of us
Because he was warmly invited by the Wenchangmen community, Brother Qi went to give a lecture and reviewed the history of Wuchang City with his neighbors. Let's sort it out together today.
Hello everyone, very happy to be here.
I'm Zhao Qi from Chinese Interactive Entertainment, and we ran a program together, called "According to Words and Unenlightenment", the purpose is to tell the story of Wuhan, the humanities of Wuhan... Therefore, it attracted the attention of the organizers, so we were invited to participate in this activity of "remembering Wenchangmen again and recounting old friendship".
The organizers are very caring and everyone is very enthusiastic, so although I met you for the first time, it was very intimate, just like meeting an old friend.
So today, let's just talk to old friends and tell this old story that has lasted for more than 1,800 years.
Those of us here today, to a greater or lesser extent, have something to do with Wenchang Gate, which was built and demolished, once had, and now it is not.
But we know that Wenchang Gate is only one of the nine gates of Wuchang Ancient City, so his fate must start from the entire Wuchang Ancient City.
Where there is demolition, there will be construction, and if there is death, there will be prosperity. So, let's go back in time to 1800 years ago.
Eastern Wu period - Xiakou City
The earliest founding time of Wuchang was the Eastern Wu period of the Three Kingdoms. The second year of Eastern Wu Huangwu, that is, 223 AD, you can calculate that it is a full 1800 years ago, of course, some people say that it is the second year of the early Wei Huang Dynasty, that is, 221 AD, then it is 1802 years ago.
In this year, Wu Lord Sun Quan built Xiakou City in Jiangxia, which is today's Snake Mountain. The city is "surrounded by mountains and rivers, open to the far and far, relying on danger, watching the pillow stream", in fact, it was a military fortress in a dangerous situation, of course, the city at that time was not large, and the circumference was only two or three miles, it was a version of the earth and stone city.
Although the city is small, it is very strong and durable, how long has it been used? According to the records: "This city still existed during the Song Dynasty". That is to say, by the time of the Song Dynasty, this small stone city could still be used, which was equivalent to nearly 1,000 years.
Because the city at this time is still very small, if you look at the map, you will find that his location is north of Snake Mountain, so there is no matter of our Wenchang Gate.
Here to say, why did Sun Quan build a city in Wuchang? Of course, in order to defend the Cao Wei group in the north, and the Shu Han group in Sichuan, then, Sun Quan, who ruled by the river, could not be just a point, but a line, so in addition to building a city in Xiakou, a city was also built in Ezhou downstream, which was called Wuchang City at that time, yes, the earliest Wuchang was not today's Wuchang, but Ezhou, but this meaning has not changed, that is, "because of Wu and Chang".
It was under the protection of such a series of strong walls that Sun Quan's courage was also fattened. At that time, there was a legend that there was a phoenix circling in Phoenix Mountain north of Xiakou City, and Sun Quan thought that this was an auspicious omen and could do great things, what was the big thing he wanted to do? It is the founding of the country called the emperor, so 229 AD was designated as the first year of the yellow dragon, and the state was officially established as the emperor.
In order to consolidate the fruit, Sun Quan also built a city in the upper reaches of Jinkou, which was called Shaxian City at that time, and data records that in the second year of Chiwu in Eastern Wu, that is, in 239 AD, Sun Quan "built Jinkou Fort to guard Shaxian County", so it was also called Shaxian City. After Emperor Wudi of Jin, "Shaxian County moved to Xiakou City", that is, after arriving in the Western Jin Dynasty, the center of defense began to shift to the area around Wuchang.
Southern Dynasty period - Yingzhou City
During the Southern Dynasty, Emperor Xiaowu of Song established Yingzhou in Xiakou City in 454 AD, and repaired and expanded the city wall on the basis of Xiakou City, so Wuchang was also called Yingzhou City at that time. It is said that there are still ruins of the city wall of Yingzhou on Snake Mountain.
In 1983, when the Yellow Crane Tower was rebuilt, a cross-section of an ancient city wall was dug up in Snake Mountain, and after survey, this ancient city wall was more than 300 meters long on the ridge of Snake Mountain. Archaeologists identified it and found that although this section of the wall was a rammed earth structure, the wall was made of plywood, filled with soil in the middle, and compacted layer by layer, until it reached the top, and then made of thin bricks. This architectural structure is called "plate building", and the bricks used are rectangular stones used in pre-Tang buildings, and are called Jomon bricks because of the decorative pattern similar to ropes on the surface, which is also mixed with a large number of Han bricks. Archaeological experts concluded that this was the site of the city of Yingzhou.
Today, in the Yellow Crane Tower Scenic Area, there is an introduction board in front of the ruins of Yingzhou City, which reads: "Yingzhou City, also known as Yingcheng, is located in Wuchang Snake Mountain, Wuhan City, and was expanded by Xiakou City built by Liu Song on Sun Quan of the Three Kingdoms in the Southern Dynasty, and ruled by Yingzhou Prefecture for it."
In the first year of Song Xiaojian (454 AD), Emperor Xiaowu Liu Jun set aside eight of the four prefectures of Jing, Xiang, Jiang, and Yu to set up Ying Prefecture to weaken Fang Zhen's power, and Ying Prefecture was established in Xiakou City. "If you are interested, you can go and find this history.
Sui and Tang dynasties - Ezhou City
In the ninth year of the emperor's reign (589 AD), Emperor Wen of Sui abolished Jiangxia County and changed Runan, which was originally in Jinkou, to Jiangxia County, and the prefecture and county seat were both located in the city, so Wuchang was also known as Ezhou and Jiangxia County. "Yudi Jisheng" said: "Ezhu is three hundred steps on the yellow hoji in the west of the county, and Sui Lizhou is named Ezhou." ”
In the history of the development of Wuchang City, the Tang Dynasty cow monks and children are a figure that cannot be left unmentioned. Niu Monk and Children, born in 779 AD and died in 848 AD, was a native of Anding Quail Yao in the Tang Dynasty, which is now Lingtai County, Gansu. In 805 AD, he was admitted as a junior scholar, and in 808 AD, he bluntly criticized current affairs with virtuous and honest countermeasures, which was reprimanded by Prime Minister Li Jifu and did not promote him. Later, he fought with Li Jifu's son Li Deyu, a Hanlin bachelor, and the history is known as the "Niu and Li Party Struggle".
In 825 AD, he sat in Ezhou with the Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites, Tongping Zhangshi, Ezhou Assassin History, Wuchang Jun Jiedu Envoy, and Eyue Observation Envoy. The reconstruction of Ezhou City was at this time.
In Ezhou, the cow monks and children took several measures to ease the burden on the people. At that time, Yingcheng was a soil city, and because the soil was not sticky, it was difficult to build the city wall, and every year when it was built, it was necessary to levy green thatch bags of soil to add layers. Local officials took advantage of this to embezzle the assets of the city, year after year, toiling the people and losing money, and the people complained bitterly. After the ox monks and children arrived in office, they calculated that the straw bags and construction expenses would cost more than 100,000 yuan a year, so they changed to collecting adobe bricks to offset the grass bags and construction fees that were collected. In the five years before and after, the city walls were all built like well walls, and the embezzlement of the city's resources was eradicated. Not only the scope of Ezhou City Wall has expanded, but also the north, south and east have been expanded, south to Ziyang Lake, west to the west end of Snake Mountain, east to Caogong City, north to Shahu, and the city is about fifteen li. Moreover, with Tao Ling (fired adobe bricks) as the city, Wuchang has a brick city since then. He also abolished redundant personnel and called for the abolition of Chao Prefecture on the other side of Ezhou and the transfer of Hanyang and Hanchuan counties under his jurisdiction to Ezhou, so that the north and south of the confluence of the Yangtze River and Hanshui would form a unified administrative division at the prefecture level.
This was the first attempt in history to unify Wuchang and Hanyang under one administrative structure.
Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties – Wuchang City
In the third year of Emperor Renzong of Song's reign, that is, in 1051 AD, Li Yaoyu of Ezhou Zhizhou rebuilt the Ezhou city wall again. At this time, Ezhou City was twice the size of the original Xiakou City. "Twenty-four miles around, two feet and one foot high, three gates, Qingyuan in the east, Wangze in the south, and Ping Lake in the west. Meta because of it. ”
During the Yuan Dynasty, Wuchang officially became the seat of Huguangxing Province.
After Zhu Yuanzhang conquered Wuchang, he changed Wuchang Road in the Yuan Dynasty to Wuchang Prefecture, with jurisdiction over Jiangxia, Wuchang (present-day Ezhou), Jiayu, Puqi, Xianning, Chongyang, Tongcheng, Xingguo Prefecture (present-day Yangxin), Daye, and Tongshan. Jiangxia County (covering present-day Wuchang, Hongshan, Qingshan, and Jiangxia Districts of Wuhan) is a subservient county of Wuchang Prefecture, also known as Wuchang.
When conquering the land of Jingchu, Zhu Yuanzhang's sixth son was just born, and Zhu Yuanzhang was overjoyed and said: "Son, seal it with Chu", which means that when my son grows up, I will reward him with the land of Chu. Sure enough, when this son grows up, he will be sealed here.
The basic formation of Wuchang City was in the fourth year of the Ming Dynasty (1371), when Zhou Dexing, the founder of the Ming Dynasty and Marquis of Jiangxia, expanded the city to the south of Huanghu Mountain (present-day Snake Mountain), and the mountain was all included in the city. According to Jiajing's "Huguangtu Jingzhishu" ("Huguangtongzhi"), the circumference of the city is about 3098 zhang (about 20 li today), and the southeast of the city wall is one zhang high and two feet and five feet wide; The northwest is three feet nine feet high and nine feet wide. The circumference of the moat is 3,343 feet, one foot nine feet deep and two feet six feet wide. There are 4,168 battlements on the city wall, 93 city shops, and thirteen city towers.
There are nine city gates, including the Great East Gate in the east, the New South Gate in the southeast, the Baoan Gate and Wangze Gate in the south, the Bamboo Gate in the southwest, the Pinghu Gate in the west, the Hanyang Gate in the northwest, the Caobu Gate in the north, and the Xiaodong Gate in the northeast.
From this time on, Wuchang had Wenchang Gate. A friend asked, and there is no name called Wenchangmen here. Yes, the name has not changed, but the door is already there. This is the bamboo tuftin door. As for when to change the name to Wenchangmen, this will have to wait until the arrival of a great genius, Gu Xuan.
In the fourteenth year of Ming Jiajing (1535), when the capital imperial history Gu Xuan rebuilt Wuchang City, he changed the big east gate to Binyang Gate, the small east gate to Zhongxiao Gate, the Bamboo Gate to Wenchang Gate, the Xinnanmen to Zhonghe Gate (that is, the only remaining Uprising Gate), Wangze Gate to Wangshan Gate, and Caobu Gate to Wusheng Gate. The remaining gates still bear their original names.
In 1918, someone composed a "Song of Pai Gong", singing people's perception of the nine gates of Wuchang: "Looking at the lake in the distance, it is high and high, and the nine doors are all covered with copper and iron." Nest wind and wave shelter Wenchang gate, rise bucket amount Miping Lake gate. Welcome guests to Hanyang Gate, pick fish and sell vegetables Wushengmen. The cart carries the sedan Zhongxiaomen, and the scenery of the mountain is bin Yangmen. Overthrew the Manchu uprising gate, and the aunt burned incense to guard the gate. The monk rode on horseback to the Wangshan Gate, which is the nine gates of Wuchang. ”
Qing Dynasty - "Nine Gates and Ten Caves"
In the forty-third year of Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty (1778), he was allowed to make a major repair, and in the fifth year of Jiaqing (1800), he asked for a minor repair.
It is particularly worth mentioning that in the seventeenth year of Daoguang (1837), when Lin Zexu was in power, through the joint efforts of the official gentry, he made another major repair, planning to dismantle and repair 182 sections of the inner and outer city walls, with a total length of 1115.3 zhang, repaired 1975 battlement walls, 1108 zhang of battlement walls, 1180 zhang of female walls, as well as nine gates, city towers, horse roads, nests, artillery houses, barracks, corner towers, Wangjiang towers, official halls, and artillery emplacements. So that the riverside province is a heavy land, Chongyong consolidated, full of capital protection and spectacular.
We all know that during the Taiping Rebellion, the Taiping Army had three Wuchang, in fact, it was by shelling Wenchang Gate and entering the city.
In the 33rd year of Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (1907), Zhang Zhidong, the governor of Huguang, added a gate between Zhonghe Gate and Binyang Gate, called Tongxiang Gate, and set up a station outside the gate to connect Hunan, and the former site was at the east end of today's Ziyang Road, near Wuchang Railway Station.
At this point, the nine gates and ten caves of Wuchang Ancient City have been officially completed.
As one of the nine gates, Wenchangmen also began to usher in his historical mission, but this is the topic we will talk about in the next lecture.