Origin: Cited by the official history
This phase is verified on the spot
Ontology Objective argumentation
It proves the true nature of the Western Regions
The Chronicle of the Western Regions
Manga Sumiko Works
Part 1
Western Han Dynasty
Ten
Qilian Sanshui
There is no doubt about the power of one city and two passes, but the problem also comes: Dunhuang is already on the edge of the Kumutag Desert, Yumen Pass and Yangguan are completely in the desert, where does the water for the garrison and the people come from?
This problem is a matter of course, taking it for granted that there is no water source in the desert except for the desert yellow sand, in fact, there is not only water here, but the amount of water is not small.
Is it a big surprise?
The surprise is not surprising, as the hydrology here is very different from that in the east.
Our common meteorological precipitation can be roughly divided into four types according to the causes, one is frontal rain, the second is terrain rain, the third is convective rain, and the fourth is typhoon rain. Frontal rain is the confrontation between the warm and moist air on the ocean and the dry and cold air on the land, and the large-scale precipitation formed after the intersection of cold and warm fronts, which is the case with the plum rain in the central and eastern regions; topographic rain is the moist hot water vapor that climbs along the mountain and condenses into rain as the temperature drops, which is more common in the southwest mountainous area; convective rain is the precipitation formed by natural condensation after the warm and humid air flow transpires to the high altitude, and the rain in the equatorial zone and the heavy rain in the summer in the south of the Yangtze River all belong to convective rain; typhoon rain is the precipitation brought by typhoons at sea.
Field investigation and shooting, Sister Feng and her brother-in-law witnessed love in front of the snowy peaks of Qilian Mountain: there is always a lot of love in the world, and kowtowing to Cangshan is also white-headed
However, in addition to the above four precipitation methods, there are also some special forms of precipitation, such as the Qilian Mountains, although the alpine area has been far away from the ocean, the low-altitude water vapor has been unable to reach, but the high-altitude water vapor can still penetrate to some extent, and condense after hitting the mountain, so it falls on the top of the mountain in the form of freezing rain or snowfall. The amount of precipitation at high altitude is related to the height and size of the mountain, the higher the mountain, the larger the mountain, the more water intercepted, some high-altitude mountains are also covered with snow in midsummer, and the ice and snow do not melt all year round, which is called the permanent snow line.
Don't underestimate these ice and snow, because they have accumulated for tens of millions of years, they are quite considerable, and they are simply solid reservoirs. At the turn of spring and summer every year, as the temperature rises, the ice and snow melt and discharge, and a piece of wetland is washed out at the foot of the mountain, like a fan, so it is called an alluvial fan. There are many waterways on the alluvial fan, which are distributed in a braided shape, flowing along the terrain to low-lying places, and finally merging into large rivers.
Remote sensing map, alluvial fan in the upper reaches of the Shule River
Wherever the snow flows, abundant aquatic plants are nourished, so for people in arid areas, these waterways often mean the continuation of life, the reproduction of races, and are the most valuable treasures. Rising to the level of countries and nations, these waterways have been endowed with geopolitical value - whoever controls a river controls a large area of land, so many countries do not hesitate to start wars for this. This is somewhat like today's islands, whoever controls an island has a 200-nautical-mile marine exclusive economic zone, and the temptation is too great, so as long as it is an island, no matter how big or small, it has become a sweet treat.
Remote sensing map, river distribution map of Shule River Basin
In the area of Dangjin Mountain, where the Qilian Mountains and the Altun Mountains meet, there are two such rivers, namely the Dang River in the west and the Shule River in the east.
The Dang River, also known as 氐置水 (dī zhì shuǐ) or Longle Water or Ganquan River, originates in the Qilian Mountains on the south side of Dunhuang, first flows to the northwest, then turns to the northeast after coming to Dunhuang, and finally joins the Shule River from the east. The Dang River watered out the rich grassland of Subei, at the turn of spring and summer every year, the Yin Yin grass Shu, the stars bloomed, the original Da Yue and Wusun were born here, and later became the territory of the Xiongnu, now the Han Dynasty built Dunhuang City here again, everyone looks at the abundant water and grass along the Dang River.
The Shule River originates from the Qilian Mountain in the west of Yumen City today, the upper reaches are called Jiduanshui, the middle reaches are called the Stygian Water, and then merge into a large lake, called the Underze, and continue to the west to be called the Shule River. Shule River can be regarded as the second largest river in the Hexi Corridor, after receiving the Dang River in the north of Dunhuang, it forms a piece of water at the confluence, the area is slightly smaller than the Mingze, but as long as it is water, it is a treasure, so the Han Dynasty set up the Yumen Pass here again.
After flowing through Yumen Pass, the Shule River continued westward, but as the evaporation and infiltration of the desert increased, the river became smaller and smaller, and finally disappeared completely in the area of Bailongdui sand dunes on the east side of Lop Nur. According to the later excavation of the Bei Hou Well by the Han army, it is speculated that even if the Shule River flows to the vicinity of Bailongdui, the volume of its terminal water is not small, otherwise it is impossible to open a canal to transport grain.
Because the Shule River pointed all the way to Lop Nur, the envoys of the Han Dynasty at that time went to the Western Regions along the river to the west, so that they would not get lost and could get water supplies.
Remote sensing map, distribution map of the Dang River and Wuwa water
In addition to these two main rivers, there is also a very inconspicuous stream nearby, called Wuwa Shui, which originates in the south of the Dangjin Mountain Pass, which is roughly located not far from the western part of the Dang River. In 2012, the author found that this waterway is very small, only two or three meters narrow, so the "water" of the water is likely to be through the "grip" of the handshake, which is a metaphor for the width of the water but a hand, and the stagnant water is only a puddle.
The earliest mention of the water is related to a kind of sacred horse produced here.
Is there really a god horse in the world?
Yes, in the history books. In the second year after Huo Qu's disease blitzed the Hexi Corridor, the "Historical Records" recorded: "The god horse is in the water of Wuwa".
What kind of horse is the god horse, Sima Qian, the author of "Historical Records", can't say clearly, it is estimated that it is a wild horse with an abnormal horse. After the capture of the divine horse, everyone understood that this matter was terrible, because the holy horse at that time was extremely curious and possessive. Sure enough, this time everyone woke up and drunk alone, and the divine horse inspired the imagination of the holy Tsushima, thinking that the higher the mountains and rivers in the west, the more BMW horses were produced, and then they obtained the Wusun horse, which was immediately named Tianma, and then discovered the Dawan horse, then sorry, the name of the Tianma could only be given to the Dawan horse, and the Wusun horse was renamed the West Pole Horse.
Network pictures, sweaty BMW
Coincidentally, at that time, Shengshang had just founded Yuefu.
What is Lefu?
That is the music and dance creation and singing institution in the palace, which is now known as the Royal Song and Dance Troupe.
Yuefu's duty was to collect and excavate folk songs, from which the word "caifeng" was first derived, and Yuefu often invited literati of the time to write poems and music, which came to be known as Yuefu poems, or Han Yuefu for short. Han Yuefu has elegant rhetoric, soothing tunes, and most of the performers are light and slow, singing and dancing, integrating poetry, music, dance and costumes and other diverse arts, which can be called the pinnacle of art in that era, so it has been widely circulated in later generations.
After hearing that Wu Washui had discovered the Shenma, the Holy Lord immediately arranged a task for Yuefu - Sima Xiangru and other literary gods would write poems for the Shenma, and let Li Yannian, the commander of the co-ordination, compose music and arrange music for the Shenma. For a while, this small water in the desert was shining with words, the sound of water stirring the rhythm, and the iron hooves of the gods and horses stepped on, all of which were sonorous rhythms.
Internet pictures, the tail water of the water, the ripples of the words, the sound of the water stirring the rhythm
After listening to the emotional performance of Yuefu, the spirit of romanticism on the saint was stimulated, and then I listened to "There is a beautiful woman in the north, peerless and independent, looking at the city, and then looking at the country", and then boated on the Yellow River and sang "Autumn Wind Speech", who said that he lost his literary talent, I see that his martial arts are not inferior.
Not only that, but when Dunhuang County was set up later, Shengshang did not forget this soul stream and built Yangguan on the spot. Who would have thought that the glow behind Yangguan is so beautiful and magnificent? So don't say that there is no reason to go out of Yangguan in the west, it is all made up by Wang Wei, in the eyes of the saint, it is completely a spiritual road, not a single-plank bridge for the soul, what poetry must be used to describe it, that is only the later Xie Guan's poem "Climbing the Three Mountains in the Evening and Looking at Jingyi": "The afterglow is scattered into Qi, and Chengjiang is as quiet as practice." The noisy birds cover the spring island, and the miscellaneous flowers are full of flowers. "In contrast, is it a general tune, similar to the melody?
Internet picture, phenological ecology of the Shule River Basin in the glow
Through the construction of Dunhuang, Yangguan and Yumen Pass, the Han army firmly controlled the three water sources of the Dang River, the Shule River and the Wuwa River, so that the western end of the entire Hexi Corridor was firmly controlled. From the perspective of geographical management, the young saint in the Weiyang Palace in Chang'an is too shrewd, although he is three thousand miles away, he can still be calculating to the point of not giving up a drop of water, and the Huns who operate extensively are opponents!
The above is the hydrological development of the western part of the Hexi Corridor, what about the entire Hexi Corridor, if we zoom in on the pattern, we will find that the four major cities are all located next to the big river.
There are three main rivers distributed in the Hexi Corridor from east to west, namely Shiyang River, Heihe River and Shule River, which were called Gushui, Weak Water and Shenshui respectively in the Han Dynasty. The Shule River and the Mingze River have been clearly introduced, so let's take a look at the Shiyang River and the Heihe River to see how the hydrological use of these two rivers is.
Remote sensing map, map of the Shiyang River basin near Wuwei, and the tail water Xiu Tuze has dried up
The Shiyang River originates from the north side of the Lenglongling Mountains in the eastern part of the Qilian Mountains and is the third largest river in the Hexi Corridor, with a perennial runoff of 1.5 billion cubic meters, equivalent to the volume of more than 100 West Lake, which is definitely a very considerable water source in the arid Hexi region. The Shiyang River eventually joins the Tengger Desert and ends at Hutu Ze, which has the same name as Jin Riyan's father, King Hutu, and it is not known whether the former became famous for the latter, or the latter named the former.
The shaping power of the Shiyang River to the environment along the line can be imagined, during the Han Dynasty, the riverside was connected to the sky, and the grass was endless, but unfortunately, today's Hutu Ze has long dried up into a desert, and even Minqin County, which is more than 100 kilometers to the south, has been forced to the city by the desert. Therefore, Hugh Tuze is a mirror lake of history, which can shine through human nature at a glance, and only complains about the future generations for everything, but in the end it is just a glimpse of yellow sand!
Internet pictures, the scenery of Shiyang River in the Wuwei area
According to the remote sensing map, the two major tributaries of the Heihe River (weak water), Qianggu Water and Hu Silkworm Water, nourished the two major cities of Zhangye and Jiuquan respectively
The Heihe River originates in the middle of the Qilian Mountains, with a perennial runoff of more than 10 billion cubic meters, which is an order of magnitude larger than the Shiyang River, and is undoubtedly the largest river in the Hexi Corridor. There are two major sources in the upper reaches of the Heihe River, namely the Qiang Valley Water in the east and the Hu Silkworm Water in the west, the name Qiang Valley Water is very easy to understand, that is, the water flow from the Qiang Valley, Hu Silkworm Water is difficult to explain from the word, it is likely to be the transliteration of the local ethnic minorities. Qianggu water and Hu silkworm water respectively nourish a big city, that is, Zhangye and Jiuquan, as for the other towns along the line, it is a sweet potato on the sweet potato vine, pulling out a large bunch.
Internet picture, sunset, phenological landscape of the Heihe River Basin
Remote sensing map, topographic layout map of Shandan Military Horse Farm
What we should focus on here is not these urban clusters, but the two depressions in the upper and lower reaches of the Heihe River, which had a profound impact on later generations of Chinese civilization.
The first depression is located in the upper reaches of the Heihe River, called Shandan, also known as Delete Dan at that time, this is a treasure of feng shui that influenced the future generations of China for two thousand years, because there is not only water in the local area, but also a vast mountain grassland, the pasture grass is spread like a carpet, raising hundreds of thousands or even millions of livestock, it is not a problem, and it is close to the Biandukou Pass, the control and management is also very convenient, and there is a more unique horse breeding ground than this?
No, in the eyes of the Han Dynasty, this is simply a military horse breeding farm made in heaven, the only one, the only one.
Therefore, after Huo Qubing conquered the Hexi Corridor, the Han Dynasty quickly realized the value of Shandan, opened it up as a royal military horse farm, raised military horses on a large scale, and even appointed a full-time Bi Ma Wen to manage it. After that, the Han Dynasty was able to launch the Battle of Mobei and the two Dawan Battles, largely thanks to the war horses produced by the Shandan Military Horse Farm.
In the later Central Plains Dynasty, there were two main production areas of military horses, namely the Shandan Military Horse Farm and the Hetao Plain, which have not changed since ancient times.
Field trip shooting, the road to the Shandan Military Horse Farm, Sister Feng and brother-in-law show affection
The second depression is in the lower reaches of the Heihe River, where the tail water of the Heihe River merges into a large pool of water, called Juyanze. Many people know the name of the place, but the reason why it is famous is not glamorous, because it was once one of the birthplaces of sandstorms in China.
At the beginning of the 21st century, every time the north wind blows, Juyanze will be covered by wind and sand, and even thousands of kilometers away Xinghua Jiangnan and Lychee Lingnan were once taken care of. However, in the Han Dynasty, Ju Yanze was a clear and clear wave, the grass shook the green trees, and it was a proper country with clear and shallow water, and the hue and yellow sand were not the same color at all.
Compared with Shiyang River, Heihe is much more well-known in history, because she also has a well-known alias, that is, weak water, there are clouds in Buddhist scriptures: 3,000 weak water, only take one scoop to drink, a metaphor for human nature to be restrained. Compared with Ju Yanze, who was once dry, and Hugh Tuze, who was completely dry, do these words make people have a different taste in their hearts?
Remote sensing map, layout map of the Heihe River Basin, Juyanze depth to the north, became a military important place for Han and Hungary
Heihe and Juyanze probed into the depths of the Badain Jaran Desert far away, and individual tributaries even extended to the Han-Hungarian border at that time, so the strategic significance was extraordinary, if the Han Dynasty was properly managed, it could be built into a bridgehead to attack the Xiongnu, on the contrary, if it was left unchecked, it would be used by the Xiongnu in reverse, and the Xiongnu cavalry could trace the flow to the south and cut off the Hexi Corridor.
Obviously, this is a burden that the Han Dynasty cannot bear, so when Huo Qubing blitzed the Hexi Corridor for the second time, the first point of attack he chose was Ju Yanze, and the reverse problem was solved in reverse.
After conquering Juyanze, the Han Dynasty set up Juyan Duwei on the spot to govern, and then built the Great Wall along the Heihe River, and also built the famous barrier of shelter - this name is straightforward and can be read at a glance: the barrier that blocks Hulu.
It may be that there is too much water in the desert, and it is rare to catch this big water, and the Han Dynasty wanted to be able to use it up, eat it all up, and squeeze it out, so it actually crossed Juyanze to the north and built another city two hundred kilometers to the northeast. The specific construction information of the city has been impossible to verify, and later it is said that after a general surnamed Fan was killed in battle, his wife led the remnants of the desperate resistance to be preserved, and the Han Dynasty simply named it Lady Fan City in order to commemorate the heroic deeds of this Lady Fan.
Field investigation and shooting, the ruins of the Great Wall near Shandan are surrounded by fertile plains
In this way, the Heihe River began to go north for nearly a thousand miles from Zhangye, and was surrounded by the Han Dynasty with the Great Wall, and the Xiongnu were completely blocked out of the water source, and could no longer use this passage to threaten the Hexi Corridor in the south, on the contrary, the Han army was able to go north along the river, and went to the Xiongnu territory to rob the house through the barrier and Mrs. Fan's city, so that the offensive and defensive situation of the two sides changed shape.
After the Han-Hun Desert North War, the Xiongnu were completely expelled from the south of the desert, and the Han Dynasty simply took over the Great Wall of Shuofang, and reclaimed the fields all the way, "the Handu River from the west of Shuofang to Lingju, often through the canal to the field officials, 50,000 or 60,000 soldiers, slightly encroached, the land to the north of the Xiongnu." That is to say, at this time, the northern part of Shuofang and the Hexi Corridor had been penetrated by the Great Wall and Tuntian, and the Han army was also encroaching northward step by step, and the territory expanded to the Xiongnu region.
Field trip shooting, the landform of the Qilian Mountains in the south of Shandan
So far, the Hexi Corridor has been built into an iron arm of stainless steel - Dunhuang is an iron fist, Zhangye is an iron elbow, and Wuwei is an iron shoulder. An iron fist can hit the enemy hard, and an iron elbow blow can kill the enemy, but whether it is an iron fist or an iron elbow, the force point is in the shoulder, so Wuwei is the core of power in the Hexi Corridor.
So, is there no flaw and valve in the Hexi corridor?
Yes, and it's the only flaw and valve, it's still Wuwei, because after all, it's the shoulder, once it's broken, the entire arm is removed.
In the north of Wuwei, there are two deserts of Badain Jarin and Tengger, is it possible that the Huns will come by stepping on the sand?
No, the threat of Wuwei does not come from the desert in the north, but from the Tibetan Plateau in the south.
Have you noticed that the southwest of Wuwei is the Shandan Military Horse Farm and Biandukou, which are now controlled by the Han Dynasty, if they are controlled by the opponents in the south, will people also be able to enter Hexi, and Wuwei and Zhangye are not directly threatened?
During the Han Dynasty, the Qiang people on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau were scattered and could not form any climate, but during the Tang Dynasty, the situation changed, and Tubo rose unprecedentedly, and after the unification of the plateau, they repeatedly went north to challenge Biandukou. In order to resist the attack of Tibet, the Tang Dynasty was also forced to hoard heavy troops in Wuwei, then known as Liangzhou, with a number of 73,000 people. After the Anshi Rebellion, the ministry was forced to return to Chang'an, so that the Hexi Corridor, which had been evacuated, was inevitably cut off by Tibet.
This is a later story, so I won't show it for the time being.
Field investigation and shooting, the main tributary of the Heihe River flowing in the Qilian Mountains, the Qiang Valley Water, was later attacked by the Tubo army on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau
With the large number of Han people moving in and the wide spread of advanced farming technology, the appearance of the Hexi Corridor soon changed, the nomadic economy of the grassland gradually gave way to the agricultural economy of the crops, and the grain production was completely self-sufficient.
But what Ban Gu, the author of "Hanshu", never expected was that his words would have a huge impact on the political situation in later generations. After the history came to the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Northern Wei Tuoba clan in Pingcheng (now Datong) had doubts about whether to crusade against the Northern Liang Kingdom in the Hexi Corridor, at that time they did not grasp the phenological situation of the Hexi Corridor, many nobles thought that it should be a desert-covered wild land, only the first strategist of the Northern Wei Dynasty Cui Hao insisted that it was a rich and fertile land, and finally the Northern Wei Emperor Taiwu Tuoba Tao listened to Cui Hao's words and sent troops to capture the Northern Liang, the fact is as Cui Hao said. And Cui Hao was able to come to the above conclusion, based on the fact that there was this sentence recorded in the "Hanshu • Geographical Chronicles", and other Northern Wei nobles did not read, so they naturally did not know this situation.
Remote sensing map, map of the Qianggu water basin near Zhangye
In this way, under the hard work of Liu Che's large-scale paintings and the hard work of the soldiers and civilians of the Han Dynasty, the two thousand miles of Gobi Desert in the Hexi Corridor were developed into the south of the Yangtze River, and in the following two thousand years, the successive dynasties relayed the sticks, and the social economy became more and more mature, especially the two places of Zhangye and Wuwei, under the watering of the Heihe River and the Shiyang River, and finally developed into the two granaries of Hexi, which were given the saying of "gold Zhangye and silver Wuwei". Zhangye was later renamed Ganzhou, Jiuquan was renamed Suzhou, and the name of Gansu came from this.
It can be said that it is through the diversion of the above three major rivers that the Hexi Corridor can be developed, the Western Regions can be navigated, the Silk Road can be connected, and the Chinese civilization has been pollinated after it has been blown into a new breath. Culturally, we are accustomed to calling the great rivers that gave birth to civilization the mother river, so these three great rivers can also be called the mother rivers of Chinese civilization, and the Yangtze River and the Yellow River are the beginning of Chinese civilization, and they are the transformation of Chinese civilization.
After the economy completed self-hematopoiesis, the iron arm of the Hexi Corridor suddenly became full of blood and stout, and the time was finally ripe for the Han Dynasty to comprehensively pass through the Western Regions. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, who sang loudly in the Han style, sent envoys out of the desert one after another in order to feel the sound of Huyin, so in addition to the silk and bamboo in the Central Plains, we in later generations were also fortunate to hear the huqin, pipa and gonghou......
Please continue to pay attention to the eleventh of "Western Regions Benji ● Western Han Dynasty": Through the Western Regions - Jiuchi Meat Forest, Jinfu Silver Treasury, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty is a historical fact, and the king of Shang is just a legend.