During the Ming Jiajing period, Tatar tribal forces often haunted Lanzhou, Xining, Zhuanglang, Zhongwei, Jingyuan, Liangzhou and other places.
The Lesser and Songshan area, located north of Lanzhou, was once an important section of the northern route of the eastern section of the Silk Road, but it was difficult to control because it was located outside the border wall, and was eventually abandoned in the entire line reduction in the early Ming Dynasty, leaving a huge strategic loophole, which became a threat to the western frontier of the Ming Dynasty after the Tatar tribes moved in. In addition to participating in the mutual market, the Tatars who settled in Songshan also committed themselves to "plundering the east and west, plundering the Han and robbing the Chinese to cultivate them", and befriended the Qinghai Tatars so that the Gansu town suffered enemies.
In the 26th year of the Wanli Ming Dynasty (1598), Li Wen, the governor of Shaanxi, and the division of the seven roads of Gansu Governor Tian Leji divided their forces and defeated the Tatar Achitu and other tribes stationed in Dasongshan, and built Songshan Xinbian the following year. "Hedong is divided from Yong'an Suoqiao to Xiaosongshan Shuangdun, a total of 180 li; Hexi is divided from Surabaya, Tumen to Komatsushan Shuangdun, a total of 220 li. In addition, Tumen Fort, Dajing Camp, Peijia Camp, Hongshui Fort, Sanyan Well, and Lutangying castles were built in the Great Wall.
Location of the Songshan Xinbian Great Wall (Image from China Atlas)
Songshan Xinbian was the last large-scale construction of the Great Wall in the Ming Dynasty.
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Songshantan grassland, located more than 30 kilometers southeast of Tianzhu County, Gansu Province, with a total area of 1,000 square kilometers, is an arid grassland vegetation, mainly herbaceous plants and shrubs, is the largest grassland basin in Tianzhu.
The famous "horse of Dalongcang" in history was bred here for a long time.
Beautiful Matsuyama beach grassland
Not far from the mouth of the Songshan Beach Black Horse Circle, there is an ancient and desolate city, which has experienced the star shift and the eclipse wind, and the basically intact wall still loses its majestic appearance, which is the famous Songshan ancient city in the Ming Dynasty.
The Battle of Songshan, which broke out here during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, made this place even more famous.
Songshan Ancient City (Photo by Wang Shouhui)
From the county seat of Tianzhu, head 36 kilometers east to the Songshan Beach Grassland to find the ancient city called Songshan.
Songshan Tan Grassland, once the largest natural pasture on the east side of Wusheng Ridge, is now the largest resettlement site in Tianzhu County. In summer, the Songshan Beach grassland is full of greenery, and you can see white yaks, alpine fine wool sheep, and fork horses along the way, which are particularly pleasing to the eye and make people forget the troubles of the world.
After crossing the gentle slope, a house finally appeared in front of you, which is Matsuyama Village. The reddish-brown boulders in the distance are the walls of the ancient city, right next to the village.
In the deep pool of sunlight, the rammed loess wall rises from the ground, solid and rugged, with a strong visual impact.
At the gate of the ancient city, the wide and cart-free gate now only leaves a wall made of loess, from which to enter, like a small empty courtyard, this is the urn city, after entering the urn city, you will see the entrance of a city gate. In the small courtyard, in the open space that was not blocked by the city wall, the grass was secluded.
The ancient city of Matsuyama sits north facing south and is divided into two cities: inner and outer cities. Originally, there was only one gate, which opened to the south, and then in order to protect the safety of the inner city, it extended outward on the basis of the original gate, and another gate was opened to the west, which is now the first gate to enter the ancient city, which is the gate of the outer city.
Songshan Ancient City Ruins (Photo by Wang Shouhui)
Entering through the gate of the inner city, you can be regarded as truly entering the ancient city of Matsuyama, and your eyes are suddenly open. The interior of the ancient city is now covered with shrubs, showing in front of you the tile blue sky, yellow-brown walls and endless spreading herbs...
Until the 90s of the 20th century, there were still people living in the ancient city of Matsuyama, and now next to the ancient city, Matsuyama Village was built, and there is still a family in the ancient city, which has been silently guarding the ancient city.
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When the entire ancient city was first built, it covered an area of 280 acres, with official offices, military camps, residences, schools, granaries and other facilities, and in the heyday, there were temples built in the city. Although after hundreds of years of polishing, most of the ground buildings in the ancient city have been annihilated, but the castle of the ancient city has been preserved quite intact.
How did the ancestors build this majestic city on the grassland more than 400 years ago?
Schematic diagram of Matsuyama Shinbe
- And the answer lies in the sprigweed that grows wantonly in the ancient city.
At that time, people used this most common weed, taken from local materials, tied into bundles, combined with wooden rafters, built the frame of the city wall, and then compacted with loess layer by layer. Bales and rafters are equivalent to the steel bars we use when building houses today, and play the role of structural fixation. On the edge of a section of the inner city's wall, exposed wooden rafters, such as those the thickness of an arm, are still hidden deep in the wall.
The ancient city of Matsuyama also has an amazing secret.
——The underground of the entire castle has a tunnel connecting the inside and outside. In wartime, people can hide in tunnels, and even reinforced troops can freely enter and exit through the tunnels, so that Matsuyama Castle will not become an island.
Matsuyama is very important because of its geographical location, and it has become an important place in the western border. As long as it controlled the Songshan area, the Ming Dynasty could take the initiative militarily and achieve the goal of protecting the territory and the people.
In the early days of the Ming Dynasty, with Zhu Yuanzhang sending troops deep into northern Mobei eight times and Zhu Di leading his army five times to personally conquer the Northern Yuan, the Mongol power was greatly weakened, and Liangzhou, which was in the border area, gained a period of peaceful development for more than half a century.
However, during the Jiajing period in 1559, Mongol tribal leaders led tens of thousands of iron horses from the Hetao region to the south and west, occupying the Songshan region of Liangzhou.
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The Songshan area is roughly located in the area of present-day Jingtai, Tianzhu and Gulang. At that time, the area around Songshan was rich in water and soil, arable and pastoral, and was an extremely important military strategic place for both Mongolia and the Ming Dynasty.
In the first year of the Ming Dynasty (1567), the Songshan Mongols began to invade the interior:
- "Chief Bin Tutaiji and others plundered Jingyucheng and White Grassland with more than 1,000 people, killing 67 officials and troops. ”
In the third year of Longqing (1569), Bin Tu and others invaded the interior again:
- "The Huns crossed the river from Thar Bay, Kota Rachi, and Kuantuan Mountain." ”
Songbe also invaded Zhuanglang, Zhongwei and other places, contacted tribes such as Hetao and Xihai, and repeatedly invaded the towns of Gan, Gu, and Ning.
In the twenty-fourth year of the Wanli Ming Dynasty (1596), the Ming Dynasty began to plan to recover Songshan, and 20,000 officials and troops from Gansu Town participated in the encirclement and suppression, with about 30,000 defensive and alert troops, and more than 30,000 troops from Guyuan, Ningxia, Yansui and other towns participated in defense and blockade.
On March 20, the 26th year of Wanli (1598), the battle officially began. After six months of fighting, this beautiful steppe was recovered.
In order to better defend this important place, the following year, the Ming court began to build a military fortress in Songshan, which is what we see today as the ancient city of Songshan.
In the Matsuyama Beach Grassland, with the ancient city of Matsuyama as the center, if you look closely, you will also find that there are still some ancient military facilities preserved in the surrounding area.
On the outskirts of the ancient city of Songshan, there is still the camp of the tunbing in the past. From the west of the ancient city of Matsuyama to the town of Matsuyama, there are 3 beacons along the way. One stands on a high mountain in the distance, and the other two are on either side of the road. Although there is no clear written record, it is speculated from the structural shape and material use of the beacon that it should be a military product belonging to the same period as the ancient city of Matsuyama.
Sunset in the ancient city
Under the sunset, climb the outer city wall on the north side of the ancient city, overlooking the surroundings, the sky and earth are vast, the beacons are standing, the grass and trees are abundant, the Maya Snow Mountain in the distance stretches endlessly, and the Black Horse Circle River flows slowly...
The ancient city's long history and colorful reality are all rippled in a grand light and shadow...