Original National Humanities History 2023-06-24
This article is about 5500 words
The reading takes 14 minutes
Each is undecided, and Qin Zheng is divided here. After a thousand years of exhaustion in Wujiang, the ancient gou grass rose into cold clouds.
- (Tang) Xu Hun, "The Gap"
Vista of the ruins of the Second King City of Hanba at sunset
Hui Wang decided
The word "chasm" often conjures up images of the Chinese chess board, where between the red and black sides of the confrontation is separated by a "Chu River Han boundary". And its historical origin is the famous "chasm" recorded in the "Shiji Xiangyu Benji": "It is the covenant with the Han, the middle divides the world, and the one who cuts the chasm is Han in the west, and the one who divides the east is Chu".
A group of sculptures depicting the chasm carved out during the Warring States period. During the Warring States period, King Hui of Wei dug a chasm, also known as a big ditch, near Daliang. The name "chasm" existed in the middle of the Warring States period
And in history, the story of the gap may start from the Warring States period. The first sentence in the pre-Qin Confucian classic "Mencius" is "Mencius saw King Hui of Liang". King Hui of Liang was King Hui of Wei (魏罃; reigned 370–319 BC). Where does the word "beam" come from? During Wei's reign, he moved the capital from Anyi (in the northwest of present-day Xia County, Shanxi) to Daliang (in present-day Kaifeng, Henan), so the Wei state was also called the State of Liang. In addition, because when the three families divided into the Jin Dynasty, the Wei State obtained the essence of the Jin State headquarters, so the Warring States period also used the Wei State as the "Jin State", for example, "Han Feizi" mentioned that when the famous general Wu Qi was excluded from the Wei State, it was written "Wu Qi went to Jin".
As for King Hui of Wei, he also regarded himself as the successor of the Jin state. When "Mencius saw King Hui of Liang", King Hui looked gray, saying that the State of Jin in the Spring and Autumn Period was the most powerful country in the world - "The Kingdom of Jin, the Kingdom of Jin is not strong under the world", in his hands, it will actually be like this, look at the monarchs of other countries are not necessarily particularly smart, I really don't know what the reason is. It's a pity that Old Master Meng specializes in benevolence and righteousness, and does not analyze the situation of competition among nations, so naturally he can't say a reason. Not only that, but King Wei Hui was also ridiculed by Mencius, "If you don't look like a human prince, you don't see what you fear", as if he was an incompetent.
But then again, the Yi Zhou Shu Tan Fa contains, "Love the people and know the favor." Gentle and benevolent." It can be seen that "Hui" is a "beauty". In the pre-Qin period, the teachings were relatively realistic, and there were still "evil words" such as "King Li" and "King You", unlike later generations, which were increasingly reduced to tools for flattering imperial power, and even the idiot emperor Sima Xin, who said "why not eat minced meat", became the Jin "Hui" emperor. Since Wei Gang's nickname has the word "Hui", it can be seen that he is by no means a mediocre who does nothing.
In the case of moving the capital to Daliang, there is a view that this is because the Wei state felt threatened by the Qin state and had to move the capital to avoid its edge. It is true that in 364 BC, the Qin army attacked the Wei state and broke the Wei army at Shimen (southwest of present-day Yuncheng, Shanxi), beheading 60,000 people. This was the earliest major victory of Qin against the "Three Jin Dynasties (Wei Zhao Han)" during the Warring States period. The Qin army then rushed to Shaanxi's important stronghold along the west bank of the Yellow River, Shaoliang (southwest of present-day Hancheng), capturing the Wei general. But after Wei moved the capital to Daliang, "in the fifteenth year of King Hui of Wei (355 BC), Lu Wei and Song Zhengjun came to the dynasty", King Hui was actually very spirited. According to the "Warring States Policy", Shang Martin also said to Qin Xiaogong: "The Fu Wei clan has great merit, and the order is under the world, and there are twelve princes and the son of heaven, and he will be the people; Therefore, it is better to be an enemy of Great Wei with a Qin. It can be seen that the national strength of the Qin State at that time was still much inferior to the Wei State. Moreover, there were many places west of the Yellow River in the Wei state, and the threat of Qin was not necessarily the main reason for moving the capital.
In fact, the main purpose of King Hui of Wei in moving the capital to Daliang was to move the center of the Wei state to Henan and develop in the Central Plains. Daliang is located on the great plain between the Yellow River and Jiang and Huai, surrounded by weak and small states such as Song, Wei, Zheng, and Lu, and if it can be annexed, it can greatly expand the territory of the Wei state, increase the national strength of the Wei state, and greatly benefit the competition for hegemony in the Central Plains, so it is of great strategic significance. Due to the flat and expansive rivers in the area around Daliang, it is a good place to develop water transportation. Ten years after King Hui of Wei moved the capital to Daliang, the Wei state began to implement a large-scale water conservancy project, that is, to dig a gap. The "Chronicle of the Bamboo Book" contains: "King Liang Huicheng (that is, King Hui of Wei) for ten years, into the river water in Futian, and for the big ditch to draw water. At that time, it was probably called "big ditch" because of its wide width, and "big" was synonymous with "hong", so "chasm" appeared later. "Warring States Policy" contains: "Su Zi said to the King of Wei for Zhao He: 'In the land of the great king, there is a gap in the south'. This shows that the name "chasm" already existed in the middle of the Warring States period.
Bridging the divide does not happen overnight. "The one who enters the river into Futian and draws water for the big ditch" can only be regarded as the first phase of the project, that is, diverting water from the Yellow River in the north into Putianze (a large swamp lake at that time) in present-day Zhongmu County, and then opening a large ditch from Putianze to the east to Daliang. In this way, "when the water is abundant, it is injected north, and when the canal overflows, it is sown south", becoming a natural reservoir for water transfer and storage, and continuously transporting water to the girder. Today, on the south bank of the Yellow River, more than 30 kilometers northwest of Zhengzhou, there is a Guangwu Mountain, and there is a huge mouth on the mountain that runs straight into the Yellow River, called Guangwu Stream, which is 200 meters deep, 100 meters wide, and about 800 meters wide, which is said to be the starting point of the chasm.
Twenty years later, the Wei state began the second phase of the project to lead the southeast of Tianzeshui and communicate with the Huai River. On the one hand, the Wei people dug a large ditch in the north of Daliang City and circled it to the east of the city, leading the water of Putian to the east, connecting with the Bunsha Water (the confluence section of Bunshui and Shashui) east of Daliang City. After that, the water flows east, and the sand water goes south; On the other hand, a channel was dug to divert water out of Xingze and flow southeast, passing through the east of present-day Weishi County and the west of Taikang County to Huaiyang, divided into two branches, one south into Yingshui and one east into Sha (Cai) water, flowing into the Huai River. The chasm thus became the earliest canal connecting the Yellow and Huai rivers in ancient times.
Hook up with Huang Huai
In Chinese history, the earliest canal in the Central Plains was dug between the Chen and Cai states during the Western Zhou Dynasty. The "Water Classic, Jishui Note" quotes the "Xuzhou Geographical Record" to record: "... King Yan ruled the country, benevolence and righteousness, and wanted to sail to the kingdom, but between Chen and Cai, Zhu Gong was awarded Tianrui, and he called himself the King of Xu Yan because of his name. "The capital of Chen is in present-day Huaiyang, and the capital of Cai is in present-day Cai, and the two tributaries of Huaishui (Shashui and Rushui) are adjacent to each other. From this, it is inferred that the canal dug by King Xu Wei is about to connect sand water and Rushui. However, the location of this canal is no longer clear in history. The history books also record that the state of Xu was a great power in Dongyili, the world of the king of Yan, "the princes of Jianghuai, the thirty-six kingdoms of subordinates". This naturally aroused fear in the Western Zhou court, forcing Prince Mu of Zhou to conquer and defeat the State of Xu with the help of the military power of the State of Chu. With the defeat of King Xu, the canal he dug was immediately abandoned without being mentioned.
The chasm, as the earliest canal connecting the Yellow and Huai rivers in ancient China, is considered to be the first artificially built large-scale canal in the Central Plains. In ancient times, there were no trains or automobiles, and water transport was the most advanced and efficient means of transportation. Wei Huiwang was obviously very ambitious in undertaking such a big project. With the completion of the digging of the chasm, "Xingyang led the southeast of the river as a chasm, with the Song, Zheng, Chen, Cai, Cao, and Wei meetings, and Ji, Ru, Huai, and Si." The chasm is like a water corridor that extends from the girder to all sides, connecting many major rivers on the eastern Yudong Plain, forming a water transport network between Huanghuai and Huai. From Daliang to the south through the chasm, the Ying and Whirlpool waters enter Huai and Si respectively, and then from the Hangou between Jianghuai to the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the Taihu Lake Basin, from Daliang to the east Shunji Water, to the east to reach Linzi, the capital of the State of Qi; From Surabaya, it can reach the old territory of Luguo, and then go south to the Jianghuai region. From the west of the girder, against the water, anadromic to the west, you can reach the Guanzhong area.
With the abundant replenishment of the Yellow River water source and the storage of water in Putianze, the chasm navigation is unimpeded. For example, in the seventh year of King Xiang of Wei's son (312 BC), the state of Yue in the south sent envoys to the Wei state with boats (the king's large ship), 300 warships, five million arrows, rhino horns, ivory teeth and other valuable gifts to support and show friendship to the Wei state. At that time, the capital of Yue was in today's Suzhou, and the transportation of this batch of water war military materials from the waterway to the Weidu Daliang was to enter Huaishui from the Hangou Canal, and then trace one of the tributaries from Huaishui, and then through the Chasmou Canal to the waterway of Daliang.
The prosperity of water transport in the chasm has promoted the development of industry and commerce in the Huanghuai River Basin, and some important commercial towns along the river have emerged. The first to prosper by the chasm was the Wei capital city of Daliang. Xinlingjun, the son of Wei in the late Warring States period, once spoke with the King of Wei about the Wei state's Hanoi and beyond, that is, south and north of the Yellow River near Daliang, "hundreds of large counties, dozens of famous capitals." It can be seen that the chasm brought about the prosperity of the Wei state and the prosperity of the economy of the Liang metropolis. In addition, Suiyang (present-day Shangqiu) became a prosperous city for the exchange of goods between the north and south because of the Suishui water in the south of the city and the water in the north of the city and the communication between Jianghuai and Huai. Industry and commerce are developed, many handicrafts and merchants live, and it is a city of "hundred workers". There is also Chen (present-day Huaiyang District, Zhoukou City), which also became a wharf and place for the exchange of goods between the north and the south because the tributaries of the chasm, Wolf Tangqu and Yingshui, met here, and made Chen's people learn more business. In the late Warring States period, the capital of the State of Chu was moved from the capital of Ying to Chen, mainly because of the convenient transportation and prosperous commerce. Located at the intersection of Jishui and Heshui, Songdi Tao (present-day Dingtao, Shandong) was a famous commercial city during the Warring States period that "the princes in the world were connected, and goods were traded". Here you can go to Jianghuai along the Jishui River, from Jishui to Luoshui, and from Pushui to the north, you can reach Puyang. Located on the shore of Pushui, the Weidu Puyang was also a fairly famous economic city during the Warring States period, when people called it "Tao Wei". When people wanted to obtain fiefdoms, the target was a city with developed industry and commerce, and at that time there was a saying of "please divide the land and divide the seal, rich than Taowei". In 286 BC, the Qi army destroyed the Song Dynasty, causing fear among the princes. Two years later, Yan, Qin, Wei, Han, and Zhao, the five kingdoms fell. So Zhao took Jixi, Wei occupied the Song land, and Qin Deyuan was in the Song realm of Dingtao. At that time, Wei Ran was dictatorial, and after the Qin army obtained the pottery land, he took it as his fiefdom, so that "the wealth of the Marquis was rich in the royal family"... In fact, the prosperity of these towns is not due to the cultivation of fields, but to the transportation that occupies the chasm waterway.
Outside of shipping, the formation of chasm systems has also greatly changed irrigation conditions in the Central Plains. In Sima Qian's words in the "History", "All of this canal can be used for boats, and the surplus is used for irrigation and immersion, and the people benefit from it." As for what has passed, it is often used to irrigate the canals of the fields, in trillions, but there are not enough of them. King Hui of Wei once said to Mencius: "If Hanoi is fierce, move its people to Hedong, and move its millet to Hanoi, and the same is true of Hedong fierce." This passage means that if there was a famine in Hanoi (the area north of the Yellow River in present-day Henan Province), some of the people there would be moved to Hedong (the area east of the Yellow River in present-day Shanxi Province) and grain was delivered to Hanoi to relieve the people who remained there; If there is a famine in Hedong, the same approach will be taken. This practice shows that the Wei state stores a certain amount of grain, which shows the development of agricultural production from one side. The chasm canal basin around Daliang is the most developed area of agriculture in the Wei state. At that time, the general mu yield was "years and beauty and evil, mu take one stone". And "Guanzi Zhiguo" said: "East of Changshan Mountain, between the rivers and Ru, fleas (early) are born and killed late, and the place of grain is ripe." Four kinds and five goods, middle-aged mu two stone, one husband for millet two hundred stone. "This is inseparable from the great benefits of the chasm canal for agricultural irrigation.
Zhengzhou Taohuayu Yellow River Highway Bridge is located in Xingyang City, Zhengzhou City, Henan Province. The tunnel on the south side of the bridge passes through Guangwu Mountain (formerly known as Sanhuangshan, ࣾ called Ao Mountain, and locally known as Shan Mountain)
Gradually disappeared
After entering the Western Han Dynasty, the chasm gradually lost its former glory. After the fierce war in the late Qin Dynasty, many residents of Guanzhong fled, the population decreased, and the demand for imported food was greatly reduced. In addition, in the early Han Dynasty, he advocated the rule of Huang Lao, and rested and recuperated with the people, and all facilities were just about to get by. Therefore, the annual consumption of food and materials is limited, basically taken from the Guanzhong region, and if there is a shortage, some grain and materials are collected from the Kanto region as a supplement, so the quantity is not large. According to records, at that time, "the corn of the Kanto was transferred to the Zhongdu official, and the age was not more than hundreds of thousands of stones." In this case, even the previously high-profile divide appeared depressed in the early Han dynasty. Of course, the value of Ao Cang remains. In the twelfth year of Emperor Gao of Han, the king of Huainan (Ying) rebelled, and Xue Gong and Liu Bang, the ancestor of Han Gao, discussed the situation in the world, believing that if Qiubu "according to the corn of Ao Cang, the danger of stuffing into Gao, the number of victories and defeats is unknown", but as a result, Qibu had the courage and no strategy, and adopted the strategy in the mouth of Xue Gong: "Take Wu in the east, take Chu in the west, return to Yue, and return to Changsha". As a result, the largest rebellion of the princes and kings with different surnames in the early Han Dynasty soon failed. Just as Xue Gong said, "Your Majesty lies in peace, and Han has nothing to do." By the time of Emperor Jing of Han, the Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms of Wu Chu, who had the same surname as the kings (154 BC), and when its initiator, Liu Li the King of Wu, launched a rebellion, his adviser Ying Gao advocated "guarding the Su of Xingyang and Ao Cang from the Han soldiers". However, Liu Li did not use his strategy, attacked Liang with all his strength, and garrisoned troops under Suiyang City. The Han general Zhou Yafu, on the other hand, hurried out of the pass, joined forces in Xingyang, strangled the key road of Wu Chu's army in the western passage, first made himself invincible, and then marched to counterattack, grasping the initiative in the battle situation in one fell swoop.
By the third year of Emperor Wu of Han (132 BC), the chasm suffered another bad luck. The Yellow River breaks near Puyang and flows southeast, all the way to Heshui, Surabaya, and even further down to Huaishui. As an artificially dug canal, the chasm is not as deep as a natural river channel and is more likely to silt up than a natural river. This time the Yellow River burst, the river flooded out, the flooding was serious, Puyang, Dingtao, Suiyang, Pengcheng and other places will be depressed, Dingtao has even been slumped since then. By 11 AD, the Yellow River had undergone the second major river diversion in history, and Tianze, an important water tank in the chasm system, was gradually dying out due to the Yellow River flooding.
The "Gap" stone carving is located in the Guangwu Mountain area of Xingyang, Zhengzhou City, Henan Province. The chasm is the earliest artificial canal connecting the Yellow River and the Huai River in ancient China, bordered by the Yellow River in the north, the Huangshan Mountain in the west, the Great Plain in the east, and the Zhongyue Song Mountain in the south
Due to the repeated overflows of the Yellow River, the chasm system has been silted up many times, its navigation is not as smooth as before, and the status of shipping has gradually been replaced by the eastern canal. Strictly speaking, the Bian Qu was originally a water and was part of the chasm system. By the time Wang Jing managed the Yellow River during the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the Yellow River was put on track (about 70 years), the Bianqu had replaced the water operation between the Yellow River and the Huai River. The Eastern Han court established the capital Luoyang, in fact, to accommodate the grain-producing areas of the Kanto region. Oriental shipping ships must enter the Yellow River from the Bianqu before they can be diverted to Luoshui. Therefore, Bianqu was paid special attention to by the Eastern Han government. The water of the Yellow River cannot be allowed to enter the canal again, nor can the canal be encroached upon by other waters, nor can the water overflow. To this end, during the reign of Shundi Yangjia (132-135), the Bianqu was treated, from Biankou to Huaikou, and the banks were made of rocks as embankments to consolidate its river channel. In the middle of the Ling Emperor Jianning (168-172), he added a stone gate at Biankou to restrict the flow of the Yellow River into the Bianqu. These governance measures ensured the smooth operation of the Bianqu during the Eastern Han Dynasty. Because Luoyang is far from the Yellow River, Luoshui is inconvenient, and in the early Eastern Han Dynasty, the Yang Canal was dug to direct the Yellow River from Luoyang. In this way, a water transport route from Luoyang in the west, from Yangqu to the Yellow River, and then to Bianqu was formed, forming a new trunk line composed of Yangqu, Yellow River and Bianqu. The status of the chasm was then replaced. The "gully" that originally led to the Yellow River was washed away by the southward rolling Yellow River, and only a small section of the river, the Guangwu Stream between the two cities of Hanba, was dried up and overgrown by the Tang Dynasty.
Today, the ruins and relics of the chasm still exist in the areas along the route, becoming an important part of the heritage of ancient Chinese water conservancy projects, showing the world the greatness of the wisdom and labor achievements of the ancient Chinese people. On the Chinese chess board, the "chasm", as a synonym for the "dividing line", will continue to exist.
On October 16, 2016, the first "Chu River Hanjie World Chess King Tournament" was held on the Guangwu Mountain south of the Yellow River and on the side of the chasm in Xingyang City, Zhengzhou, Henan Province. The Chu River Han realm in Chinese chess is also divided by a "chasm"
Bibliography:
Fu Chonglan: "The Legend of the Chinese Canal";
Cheng Youwei: "History of Water Conservancy in the Middle and Lower Reaches of the Yellow River";
Teng Ling: "A "chasm" once divided the world into two halves";
Zhang Can: "Research on the Rise and Fall of Water Transport in Xingyang Ancient City";
Song Jie: "The Rise and Fall of Ao Cang in the Qin and Han Dynasties" and so on