Finding the way to Shu Road
A long and perilous journey through time and space
Deng Miaomiao
"But there was no road on the earth, but when many people walked, it became a road. Mr. Lu Xun's famous sentence speaks of the essence of "road" - the core of the generation and survival of the road lies in people.
In terms of physical geography, the Sichuan Basin, which is surrounded by mountains, is "surrounded by mountains and rivers", "48,000 years old, not populated with Qinsai", if there is no road, it is no different from an isolated island, it is precisely because of the needs of people, people's walking, and the road, which has the history of the Sichuan Basin across thousands of mountains and reaching all directions.
On the suspended glass viewing platform of Jianmen Pass, you can have a bird's eye view of the panoramic view of Jianmen Pass (photo by Zeng Zhiqiang)
The so-called "Shu Road" refers to all the roads into Sichuan in a broad sense, such as the Xiajiang Ancient Road, the Sichuan-Yunnan Ancient Road, the Sichuan-Guizhou Ancient Road, and the Sichuan-Tibet Ancient Road. In a narrow sense, it refers to the Qinshu and Longshu Ancient Road, that is, the general name of the road between the ancient Guanzhong Plain and the Sichuan Basin, as well as the Qishan Ancient Road that starts from Tianshui in Gansu Province, crosses Qishan Mountain, passes through Lixian County, Xihe County, Cheng County and Hui County in Longnan City, and arrives at Luoyang County in Hanzhong City. Nowadays, when we talk about the Shu Road as a cultural and ecological corridor, we usually refer to the Qinshu Ancient Road. The Qinshu Ancient Road is generally divided into two sections, Guanzhong crosses the Qinling Mountains to the Hanzhong section of Shaanxi, from west to east, there are mainly Chencang Road, Baochuan Road, Fu Luo Road, and Meridian Road; Hanzhong crosses the section from Daba Mountain to Sichuan, and from west to east there are mainly Yinping Road, Jinniu Road, Micang Road, and Yangba Road. Under the connection of the "North Fourth Road" and "South Third Road" and other roads, the two places of Qinshu blocked by Qinling Mountains and Daba Mountain have been closely linked since then.
"The plank road leads thousands of miles to Shu Han"
In the Jianmen Pass Scenic Area of Guangyuan, Sichuan, there is a striking statue, five strong men or holding tools, or relying on their bodies, opening up mountains and opening roads, extremely brave. This visually striking picture depicts the legend of "Wuding Mountain".
Legend has it that during the Warring States Period, King Qin Huiwen wanted to cut down Shu, but the road was difficult, so he made people carve out five stone oxen, and then placed gold, falsely claiming that the stone ox could be gold, and offered to give it to the king of Shu. The king of Shu was moved, but between Qin and Shu lies between the Qinling Mountains and the two major mountain ranges of Daba Mountain, in order to transport the stone ox back to Shu, the king of Shu did not hesitate to send five strong men to open the mountain and open the road, "the earth collapsed and the mountain destroyed the strong man to die, and then the ladder stone stack was connected."
When the people of Shu pulled back the so-called "golden bulls" through this road, they found that they were just ordinary stone oxen, and they knew that they had been deceived. The king of Shu later accused King Huiwen of Qin for not believing his words, and ordered the stone oxen to be transported back to Qin. In this way, King Qin Huiwen learned that the natural barrier had been broken and the road to Shu had been opened, so he sent a large army to attack Shu from the Golden Bull Road in 316 BC, which was written by Li Bai "Shu Road leads and Shu is dead" - Shu built a road to destroy the country for itself for greed.
The legend of Wuding Kaishan has different versions and different details, giving the ancient road of the Golden Bull Road a mysterious color. Many scholars have pointed out that this story may have been fabricated by the Qin people to "create public opinion" for the attack on Shu. Although the Golden Bull Road is the earliest Shu road recorded in historical records, the exchange between Qin and Shu should be much earlier than the time when Wuding opened the mountain. According to the records of the "Historical Records of Qin", in the second year of the reign of Li Gonggong (475 BC), "the Shu people came to bribe", which shows that at least at this time, there was a road to Qin in Shu, and it was not that the two places did not communicate with each other, but this road was not necessarily suitable for large-scale marches. In order to attack Shu, King Qin Huiwen should renovate the road on a large scale.
The importance of transportation to Qin's expansion of territory is self-evident. After the destruction of Shu, the Qin State made great efforts in transportation, in order to strengthen the control of Shu, the Jinniu Road and other roads were repaired on a large scale, and finally, "the plank road leads thousands of miles to Shu Han, so that the world is afraid of Qin." The kingdom of Shu died because of the Golden Bull Road, and the land of Shu was accessible and open because of the Golden Bull Road. The Golden Bull Road has witnessed the development of transportation between the ancient Shu land and the Central Plains, and it passes through the lofty mountains and mountains, like a dragon winding and circling. Now when we walk on this ancient road, it seems that we can still hear the echoes of history and perceive the footprints of our ancestors.
In the years that followed, Shu Dao witnessed the most majestic changes in history: Chu and Han contended, Liu Bang took Guanzhong, Hanzhong and Sichuan Basin as the rear, finally destroyed Xiang Yu, and established the Han Dynasty; the Three Kingdoms were established, Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, Deng Aiqi went out of Yinping Dao and captured Bashu; Li Yuan at the end of the Sui Dynasty and the Northern Song Dynasty in the later period of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms all took Sichuan first, and then unified the world...... Regardless of the troubled times or the rule of the world, Shu Dao has played an indelible role in the military, economic and cultural development of the past dynasties. The Taoist stone carvings of Heming Mountain and the belief of Emperor Wenchang of the Great Temple of Qiqu Mountain...... Shu Road integrates the architecture, literature, religion and other cultural forms along the line, and finally achieves the ancient traffic miracle and cultural exchange corridor.
The pearl-inlaid "crown of Shu Road"
There is an ancient road between the two river valleys of the Weishui tributary Diagonal Water and the Hanshui tributary Baoshui, because its north entrance is at the mouth of the Diagonal Valley in Meixian County, and its southern exit is in the Baogu Valley in the territory of Hanzhong, so it is called the Baochuan Road. According to the "Historical Records": "In the eighteenth year of King Zhen of Zhou, Qin Li Gongcheng South Zheng. This valley road has been passed for a long time. It can be seen that the opening time of the slope is very early.
Bao Chuan Road is the earliest, largest and longest ancient Shu Road in Chinese history, known as the "crown of Shu Road" (photo by Deng Miaomiao)
"Wei Kun Ling positioned, Chuan Ze bowed. Ze has a note, and Sichuan has a pass. Yu (oblique) valley of the river, its Ze Nanlong. Reached by all directions, the benefit domain is full. In the second year of the Eastern Han Dynasty (148 years), Hanzhong Taishou Wang Sheng wrote an ode "Ode to the Stone Gate", which was engraved by Shuzuo Wang Ring in a stone gate on the northwest slope road of Hanzhong City.
This eulogy was written to commend the merits of Yang Mengwen and others in digging the stone gate passage. Wang Sheng recorded that in the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Hanzhong Taishou Jun had spent four years digging the stone gate of the Bao Slope Road, and later due to the war, the Bao Slope Road was destroyed, and people could only choose the Meridian Road, which was relatively difficult to walk. The Meridian Road is steep, the water is turbulent, the valley is dark, and the people walk on this road, "the guns are in danger, and the end is cold", "the difficulty of sorrow can not be spoken", and the suffering is unspeakable. Later, Yang Mengwen, the captain of Sili, asked for the opening of the stone gate of the inclined road several times, and finally made the stone gate unobstructed under the argument of reason. "Meritorious service, open and flat. Cool and harmonious, Hao Hao Aining", after the stone gate is to be broken open, this place becomes spacious and flat, stable and peaceful.
The so-called "stone gate", in ancient times, there is a stone cave, the meaning of the passage, some places are named "stone gate" because there are natural stone caves in the territory, such as Shimen County, Hunan, "there are stone caves to open, dozens of zhang wide". According to Feng Suiping, editor-in-chief of the Journal of Shaanxi University of Science and Technology and former director of the Hanzhong Museum, "Shimen is the earliest artificial cross-mountain traffic tunnel in human history, which can be used for traffic, and two cars are parallel." Its opening solved a major obstacle to north-south travel at that time. ”
The rock inside the stone gate is bare, but the surface is smooth, and there are no traces of axe chisels. There is a theory that this is because of the primitive method of "fire and water shock", that is, the rock is calcined with a blazing fire, and then the cold water is used to quickly cool down, and the principle of thermal expansion and cold contraction is used to make the stone burst. Although there is no conclusive evidence to confirm the exact method of excavation, under the technical conditions of the time, the stone gate undoubtedly shows the wisdom of the ancients in the struggle between man and nature.
The excavation of the stone gate made the slope smooth again. Subsequently, Taishou Wang Sheng was worried that the passage of the Bao ramp was still difficult and dangerous, and repaired six roads and bridges respectively. In the Northern Wei Dynasty, the "Stone Gate Inscription" in the second year of Yongping (509) once again recorded the grand occasion of the opening of the stone gate: "The dome is high and there are chariots. Xianyi stone road, shepherd's skull. Thousands of years of derailment, 100 updates. ”
As a key point, Shimen has carried an important transportation function in a long historical period. The terrain here is dangerous, and the merit of opening the stone gate to benefit the people has stimulated the feelings of the inscriptions of the later generations, and the cliff stone carvings of a total of 178 kinds have been formed over time. Nowadays, the Shimen site has been submerged in the reservoir, walking on the restored Shimen plank road, entering the Shimen to touch the stone wall, you can still vaguely feel the original traffic, bustling. The thirteen Shimen products collected by the Hanzhong Museum show the pulse of the times in the Han and Wei dynasties in a silent form.
Shimen is undoubtedly a pearl on the slope road, adding a lot of color to the praise of the "crown of Shu Road" of the slope road. As for why the Bao Chuan Road is called the "crown of Shu Road", Feng Suiping believes that the Bao Chuan Road is through the main artery of the Qinling Mountains, "Whether it is the emperor issuing an edict or the transportation of materials, it needs to pass through the Bao Slope Road." The slope is the longest-lasting, the best-walking, the smoothest and the safest road in the Shu road system. ”
Gu Zuyu of the Qing Dynasty wrote in the "Minutes of Reading History and Public Opinion": "The way of praise and oblivion, Xia Yu sent it, and the Han Dynasty began to make it." The south is inclined to the north, the two ridges are high and steep, and the middle is the water that passes through. In the spring and autumn period, there was a plank road in Qin. "This ancient road with a long history, thick and deep, has witnessed not only the flames of war, but also the prosperity of the economy, the exchanges of people, and the integration of cultures.
Together with "Ode to Shimen", it is also called "Ode to the Three Songs of the Han Dynasty", as well as "Ode to the Pavilion" and "Ode to the Western Narrows". "Ode to the Pavilion" is also called "Ode to the Pavilion of the Valley", it is the Eastern Han Dynasty Emperor Liu Hong Jianning five years (172 years) carved a cliff stone carving, is to commemorate the Wudu Taishou Li Xi rebuilt the pavilion plank road and carved the book, now exists in the Lingyan Temple of Luoyang County, Shaanxi. The plank road of Hege is the official road of reaching Qin into Shu and "Ludang Erzhou" (that is, Liangzhou and Yizhou of the Eastern Han Dynasty), and it is also a part of Chencang Road in Liu Bang's "Ming Xiu Plank Road, Darkness Chen Cang". During the Jianning period of the Eastern Han Dynasty, this section of the road was difficult and steep, and the people traveled to and from the people. In the third year of Jianning in the Eastern Han Dynasty (170 years), after Li Xi, the Taishou of Wudu, took office, he thought of the "immortal Yuan Gong" opened by the stone gate of the Baochuan Road more than 20 years ago, and ordered the "Hengguan to distinguish the hatred and trial" to build the "Xili Bridge" to solve the crisis.
The cliff stone carving of "Ode to the Western Narrows" is located 13 kilometers west of Chengxian County, Gansu Province, in the Yuqiao Gorge under Tianjing Mountain. This cliff stone carving written by Qiu Jing, a small official of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and written by Dan, mainly records the story of Li Xi leading the crowd to open the West Narrow Road. Broadly speaking, the West Narrow Road is located in the Shu Road system. At this time, the four roads of Wudu are thoroughfares, the northeast can reach Guanzhong, the southeast can reach Bashu, the northwest can reach Longxi, and the southwest can reach northern Sichuan, which is an important strategic place. However, here "two mountains stand on the wall, and the clouds are made by the long", and "there is an unpredictable stream below". After Taishou Li Xi took office, he soon found that the West Narrow Road was difficult and dangerous, and realized that "if you don't plan it now, you will be in trouble", and immediately deployed and renovated it, and finally made the West Narrow Road "strong and vast, and you can wade at night". "Ode to the Western Narrows" not only records the story of the opening of the Western Narrow Road, but also reflects the Confucian ideas and concepts of governing the country, highlighting the style of Li Xi's diligence and service to the people.
"Three Odes of the Han Dynasty" is not only a treasure of ancient calligraphy art, but also a "legend of Han Li", the common theme of their writing, and really record the precious fragments of the development of Shu Dao. "The rock has not been transferred", the stone carvings have gone through vicissitudes, or completely or partially preserved, so that today's people can get a glimpse of the twists and turns of the road history and the tenacity and fearlessness of the people's hearts.
Dynasty "lifeline"
In the fourteenth year of Tianbao in the Tang Dynasty (755), the Anshi Rebellion broke out, and Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty fled from Chang'an and took refuge in Shu through Chencang Road and Jinniu Road. "The palace is sad when I see the moon, and I hear the sound of bell bowels breaking in the night rain. When he stayed overnight on Qiqu Mountain on the Golden Bull Road, he heard the weeping wind chimes echoing in the wind and rain, and he couldn't help but feel sad.
Schematic diagram of the ancient Shu Road
In October of the fourth year of Jianzhong (783), the Jingyuan mutiny occurred, Tang Dezong first fled to Fengtian (now Qianxian County, Shaanxi), and then passed through Fu Luo Road "down to Liangzhou (now Hanzhong, Shaanxi)", this road "Luogu Road Pass, grain storage is not hesitant, and the officials lack food", because of the road danger, Tang Dezong and Lu Zhen, who is known as the "inner minister", even lost for a time, "the night does not come, and the police (Tang Dezong) are worried and weeping."
Nearly a hundred years later, in December of the first year of Guangming (880), Huangchao broke through Tongguan, and Tang Xizong fled from Beijing, "galloping day and night", and entered Shu through Fu Luo Road and Jinniu Road. At this time, the Jianghuai Yundao was completely cut off, and Tang Xizong could only control dozens of roads in the north and south of the Qinling Mountains, all relying on the Shu Road to come and go, and survived. After resting in Shu for four years, Tang Xizong set off from Shuzhong to return to Chang'an in the first month of the first year of Guangqi (885).
"Whenever there is a crisis in power, Shu is like a magnet, attracting the Tang Dynasty emperors who have lost their souls. Liang Zhongxiao, a professor at Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, once wrote such a sentence. These three emperors either waited for the opportunity in Shu, or "leaned on the sword and Shu as the foundation", it can be said that in several times of crisis, the resources and wealth of Shu supported Li Tang Guozuo through Shu Dao. Yu Shenxing, a native of the Ming Dynasty, once said: "Chang'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty, every time there is a robber, he will run away, and he will have Shu." You can go north again without dying in the country, and fortunately there is Shu. ”
Being able to rely on Shu and survive depends on the consistent attention of the rulers of the Tang Dynasty to Shu Dao. After the Tang Dynasty established Chang'an, the emperors of all dynasties realized the importance of Shu and attached importance to the development and repair of Shu Road. In the twenty-second year of Zhenguan of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty (648 years), "the waterway of Xiegu Road was opened, and rice was transported to Jingshi"; during the Yuanhe period of Tang Xianzong, "the pavilion of Xiegu Road was replaced"; and in the middle of Tang Xuanzong, "the new Wenchuan Road" was opened...... In addition to tightening control over the roads themselves, the Tang rulers also carefully selected officials along the Shu Road, and a large number of high-ranking officials were trained in the land of Jiannan Sanchuan in the area of Jiannan Province and Shannan Province. Before the Anshi Rebellion, although there were cases where the prime minister was far away from the festival, he would hardly go to the town in person. After the Anshi Rebellion, the prime minister went out of the town to become a significant phenomenon, it is because of the repair of Shu Road, many high-ranking officials from the political center of Chang'an to Shuzhong, Zhang Qiu and Qiong, Gao Shi, Yan Wu, Du Hongchuan, Li Deyu and so on into Shu left a good story of honesty and responsibility, and Wei Gao is admired by the Shu people. Therefore, Sima Guang said in the "Zizhi Tongjian" that in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, Jiannan and Xichuan were "the place where the prime minister returned to Xiang".
This "lifeline" that ensured the stability of the country politically, economically, and militarily not only communicated Shu and the Guanzhong Plain, made Shu a solid rear, and steadily supported the Tang Dynasty, but also greatly promoted cultural exchanges between Shu and other places. It was in the Tang Dynasty that countless poets traveled back and forth to Shu Dao, leaving a brilliant literary galaxy between their steps.
The change and unchanged of Shu Dao
On a mountain wall in the lower section of the Shimen plank road, the words "cheap and expensive, less to avoid long, light to avoid heavy, to avoid coming". In the Lingyan Temple near the county seat of Luoyang County, Shaanxi, there is a stone tablet carved in the eighth year of Chunxi of the Southern Song Dynasty (1181), which is also engraved with these 12 words, which is called "ritual order".
Feng Suiping introduced that the "ritual order" is a stone tablet ordered by the imperial court to all states and counties to stand on the main roads of the county, which is equivalent to today's traffic rules. With the continuous improvement of Shu Road, people come and go from south to north on Shu Road, and cars and horses meet, so they naturally have to abide by the traffic norms of the ritual order. Although "avoiding the low" inevitably carries the dregs of distinguishing between the inferior and the inferior, it also reflects the concept of respecting the elderly and thinking about others.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the imperial court's control over the southwest region was strengthened, and the status of Shu Road, as the main traffic road from the Central Plains to the southwest, was once again improved. During this period, literati and doctors went to Beijing to take the examination and go to work, or were demoted from Beijing to the southwest, and many people traveled to Sichuan from various places. At this time, the role of the slope road is no longer as significant as before, and it is the Lianyun plank road that has become the official road. Some scholars believe that Lianyunzhan is the slope road, Gu Zuyu once said: "Lianyunzhan is the road to Shu, and it is called the slope road in ancient times." However, according to the research of modern scholars, the Lianyun plank road is more likely to be gradually formed after the diversion of the Tang and Song Dynasty Bao slopes.
In February of the third year of Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty (1798), Sichuan scholar Zhang Wentao stepped on the Lianyun Plank Road for the sixth time, which was also the last time he walked on this road. In the face of the dynasty's thousands of holes, he wrote eighteen poems of "Wuwu February 9 Rising on the Inscription Wall of Baoji County", "If the sky is intentionally slaughtering the border, I can't bear to cry ruthlessly in my hometown", "The battle is tired and cold, and the exclamations are chaotic in the autumn of the city", expressing endless worries. In the poems, Zhang Wentao not only lamented the decline of the country, but also recorded the prosperity of the Shu Dao system. In the twelfth part of "Wuwu February 9 Rising Stack Su Baoji County Inscription Wall", Zhang Wentao wrote: "Shang Yu is not only Guanqin Chu, Longshu River Tong Road 10,000. ”
With the development of productive forces, the wooden plank road in the Ming and Qing dynasties was mostly changed to Shiqi Road, which greatly improved the carrying capacity and traffic efficiency of the road. Wang Shixing of the Ming Dynasty once said, "Since ancient times, it has been called plank road risk, but today it is different." Repeatedly repaired, two sedans and four horses can be parallel".
However, due to the limitations of the terrain, it is inevitable that there will be dangerous roads and narrow roads on the Shu Road, but its bustle and hustle and bustle are still recorded by many literati. During the Yongzheng period, Jinshi Peng Duanshu was a native of Danling, Sichuan, he was an official in Beijing, Guangdong and other places, and returned to Shu after the official and taught at Chengdu Jinjiang University. He went back and forth on the Shu Road in Jianmen more than once, and wrote a poem "Guanyin", in which the poem "going back and forth through the bell, forcing the chariot to obstruct the chariot", depicting the vivid scene of the carriage and horses walking on the Shu Road, needing to use a rattle to warn the incoming car, and smoothly "wrong car". This shows that Shu Road was still playing a traffic function at that time.
In the late Qing Dynasty, the connection between the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and the middle and lower reaches was strengthened, and Sichuan's external traffic also shifted from the Qinshu Ancient Road to the Gorge Road with the Yangtze River as the main trunk.
Since the Republic of China, with the introduction of trains, ships, and automobiles, the transportation of the ancient Shu Road has gradually declined. However, the ancient Shu Dao did not disappear completely. The highways, railways, and highways that connect the modern construction of Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces are all extended from the lines of the ancient Shu Road. For example, the Sichuan-Shaanxi Highway (now the 108th National Highway Section) built during the Republic of China took the line from the Tang and Song Dynasty Baochuan Road (Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasty Lianyunzhan Road) and Jinniu Road;
Today's Shu Road is a rich place of historical and cultural heritage, ancient mountain road engineering technology, military heritage, travel literature, calligraphy history, immigration history, and ecological change history...... In the new era, Shu Dao is radiating new vitality and value.
Shu Road not only crossed the Qinling Mountains and Daba Mountain, but also traveled through thousands of years of time and space because of generations of pioneers and travelers. Some stories may still be able to leave a complete framework through stone carvings and inscriptions, and some stories may only be able to capture some details through a few words, but these past events about the road and people have undoubtedly triggered all kinds of remembrance and imagination of people in Shu today, and then connect the ancient and modern and point to the future.
Source: Inspectorate's Office
Author: Deng Miaomiao
Visual: Tan Liming